Niente Altro Importa
by esprit en deuil
Summary: Sequel to my fic Que Sera Sera, It's been a month since the end of the fic, has anything changed? Is it too late for some to change their minds? Slash Tony/Gibbs. Still An AU fic.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hiya All I'm Back :) So here is the first chapter to the sequel to Que Sera Sera. Thank you to my wonderful beta Finlaure for her work on this and very special thank you to Gunnery Sergeant for translating the title, I wanted it to mean 'Nothing else matters' and Gunny was kind enough to translate that into Italian so it would work better :) This fic is a WIP, but I do try to update once a week. **_

Abby sat in her office with a frown marring her usually so carefree face as she stared at the computer screen in front of her. It wasn't the computer that had her forehead marred with marks of frustration and sadness as in reality she was paying no attention to the program running on the screen. She was thinking hard about how to fix something that she was really embarrassed about breaking.

It had been a month since she had stepped into Gibbs' house and found him in an almost-lip lock with one Anthony DiNozzo junior and gone all crazy on them, a hellish month if you asked her. Gibbs hadn't spoken to her once apart from the job, and the young Italian who had been the object of her hatred was keeping the same line, though he was friendlier about it than the team leader.

She almost snorted at the thought, anyone could be more friendly than a Gibbs on his full on bastard mode. The thought made Abby sigh with sadness, she had never experienced The Bossman's version of the cold shoulder and she never wanted to again, if she managed to survive this round of it first.

"Are you alright Abigail?"

Abby jumped at the sound of the voice coming from the door and she turned around to see the old ME standing in the doorway with a look of worry on his face.

"Jeez Ducky you nearly gave me a heart attack!" She said as she turned back to her computer, deliberately not replying to the older man's query. The Scotchman seemed to have the same ability as Gibbs to detect deception of any kind when concerning the wellbeing of someone they cared about, though she feared that maybe that group of people didn't include her anymore in Gibbs' case.

Ducky shook his head slightly as he stepped forward and placed a hand on the Goth girl's shoulder. Though Abby was past the age of being called a girl, at heart she was still as innocent as a girl, even if her choice of clothing or music went against that kind of image.

"Oh I'm most certain you are in no danger of suffering a heart attack, but I dare say that it does not seem your mind nor your heart is unburdened," Ducky said with great caring in his voice, "I hope you don't think ill of me for butting my nose in where it may not belong, but it I'm afraid I have noticed that you've been down lately and after seeing the strain between you and Jethro, I felt I needed to intervene in some way."

Abby's head dropped to her chest as she unconsciously leaned into the hand that was still on her shoulder. All the anger and resentment she'd felt a month ago had been stripped from her and what was left behind was a picture of a dejected child.

"I screwed up Ducky," She started but her voice cracked a bit as the full weight of her words and actions hit her and after a month of trying to justify herself to her own troubled mind, she realized how wrong she had been. She turned big brown eyes to the man standing beside her and let out a shuddering breath, "I really, royally screwed up."

"Oh my, I'm sure all can be resolved between you and Jethro and of course young Anthony," Abby's eyes widened at the implications of the statement.

"Oh yes, I have talked with Jethro and he told me about your less than admirable attitude towards the young man currently on his team. I fear I don't quite see why you're so adverse to him being on the team and why you feel so strongly about him."

Abby stood up and started pacing the small space between her desk and the back of the office.

"He's a DiNozzo. I figured him as the rich kid jock he seemed to be, you know the type that's only interested in chasing skirts and playing with everything daddy's money can buy. He's got the looks to charm anyone and he's just so typical playboy it's obvious in every line of his tailored suits."

She looked at the man standing a few steps to her right, listening to her every word. She gathered her thoughts as she continued pacing.

"I- I know that type Duckman, I was always the freak in school, always the girl who talked too much about the wrong things and who didn't have too much friends. I pegged Tony for the type who would call you names and lock you in a closet and would always get away with it with daddy smoothing everything with cash. The type who would become a police officer just so they could play with a gun and bully everyone just because the family name would stop anyone from making it a big deal."

She finally sank back down to her chair after she finished her explanation, "I just didn't want Gibbs to get hurt. I didn't want me to get hurt."

"There's more to it than that isn't there?" Ducky asked with a pointed look at her, making her flush slightly.

"I love The Bossman, you know I do, but he can be a bit of a-"

"Bastard," Ducky supplied.

"Yeah, No one lasts long with him, Burley leaving hurt like hell, he hasn't even called! I don't want to go through it again, not when it might not be worth it."

Ducky nodded his head. He had known there was something like that behind all of this. Abby was a sweet girl who wore her heart on her sleeve and took everything so hard. She befriended easily, but she was not good at letting people go. The rich kid thing giving her a seemingly good reason to dislike DiNozzo and for keeping her distance from him, by taking the attitude further the Goth had tried to make the man leave before any attachment could be formed between the new guy and NCIS as a whole. And the older man had a suspicion there was also some jealousy about Tony and Gibbs getting on well that had fueled her on.

Though Ducky was sure it was too late to stop Gibbs and Anthony from forming an attachment, even if he wasn't completely sure if it was more than just the kind usually found between a boss and a subordinate.

He concentrated back to the Goth sitting in front of him and he sighed at the picture of misery he was witnessing.

"Oh Abigail, I fear you might have taken your attempt at protecting your heart too far and ended up hurting everyone involved in the process." He choose his words carefully, the object wasn't causing more hurt for the already guilt ridden girl, but to push her in the right direction so the situation could be resolved.

"You need to talk with both Jethro and Anthony. Tell them what you told me and I'm sure everything will be alright."

"I don't think they want to talk with me Ducky," She was trying her hardest not to cry as she thought about never being forgiven when she heard a new voice enter the conversation.

"You never know if you don't try."

She turned around to see Gibbs standing where Ducky had been in the beginning of the conversation and she turned wide eyes at the ME not angry, but resigned.

"You set me up!" She accused without heat as she realized what the team leader had heard.

"I might have acted in what some would think unethical way, but seeing as you weren't getting this matter resolved I felt the need to put an end to this. It took some convincing to get Jethro here to agree to come, but I felt this was the only way for you to see reason," He motioned with his finger between the two other people in the room. "I suggest you talk, if you'll excuse me I have to get going, I fear I have already left mother alone for far too great a length of time. I hope she hasn't decided to redecorate this time. How on earth a woman of her age and size could have changed the place of every piece of furniture in less than four hours is beyond me but she managed it last time I stayed late."

With that the old ME took his leave and left the two in a silent room, though the silence didn't last for long as Abby launched herself from the chair and landed around the older man who grunted upon impact.

"I'm so sorry Gibbs I didn't mean it, I take back everything I said about you and I know Tony isn't a bad person or a bad agent I take everything back just please forgive me!"

She was sobbing by the end of her apology so Gibbs just held her until the crying passed before he pulled back so he could look her in the eyes.

"Abby, I need you to understand that what you said and did hurt both me and Tony very much. He has been though a lot lately and the last thing he needed was that kind of attitude from you. I understand some of your reasons, but you took things too far. You need to talk to Tony about this and apologize to him too, but I think we can get past this. As long as you realize that I will not tolerate that kind of behavior from you. He is a good agent and I'm very pleased to have him in my team and if you had given him a chance you would have seen it for yourself."

Suddenly there was a half smile on the older man's previously stern face, "Besides if I have anything to say about it, DiNozzo isn't going anywhere so you don't need to worry about that."

TBC...


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: I hope everyone had happy holiday :) Here's chapter two of this fic, I hope you enjoy :) **_

Gibbs sighed as he turned off the ignition and sat in the now parked car in the parking lot of an apartment building. He had left NCIS head quarters shortly after his talk with Abby and had driven more or less on autopilot and he couldn't help but smile at the idea that his subconscious brought him to this place.

It had been a long month, a long but in some ways very satisfying month. Since that night when Abby had caught him and Tony in his kitchen and since their first kiss, their relationship had been going well, a week after that night, they had found an apartment for the younger man. Anyone in their right mind could see that it was way too soon to even consider living together permanently and though neither men had been ever called overly sane, they had some commonsense.

So Tony had moved to an apartment, in a building that Gibbs could apparently find without even trying, proven by his subconscious decision to drive there after leaving Abby in her lab.

After that their relationship had only continued to grow, Gibbs had proven that he had a hell of a romantic streak as he practically courted the younger man and took him out on dates. Tony had felt a bit like a girl as it seemed that it was always LJ who took him everywhere so he did his best to shake things up and took up taking the older man out on dates as well.

Gibbs stopped his reminiscing and opened the car door and made his way into the building and up to the younger man's flat. He didn't bother ringing the bell, he had a key to the place and he wasn't above using it, besides why would he waste time ringing a bell and waiting for his lover to open the door when he could just let himself in.

He opened the door and took off his shoes and jacket before making his way deeper into the apartment. He knew Tony was home since his car was outside and the lights were on and it didn't take him long to locate the other man.

"LJ, that you?" Tony called as he poked his head out from the kitchen doorway and smiled as he caught sight of his older lover.

"Unless you've been giving your key to other men I don't know about, don't know who else it could have been." There was a smirk on his face as he said that so Tony took no offense of the words. The older man relaxed as the other man stepped into the hallway and moved in front of him to kiss him hello. All the tension that had settled on his shoulders during the evening seemed to melt away as their tongues dueled between and in their mouths.

The men parted when the need to breath became too great to be ignored and Tony smiled at the slightly dazed look in the older man's eyes. He grabbed Gibbs' hand and led him into the kitchen before depositing him to sit in a chair next to the small kitchen table as he himself moved to stir a pot that was sitting atop the stove.

"You're just in time. The chicken soup is about done." There was a small smile on the younger man's face but there was a hint of sadness in it and Gibbs knew that chicken soup was Tony's favorite comfort food so he went immediately on high alert.

"Something happen today?" He asked trying to rack his brain trying to think for a reason that the younger man might be feeling down or any sign that the man was ill.

Tony sighed and turned the stove off before moving to take a loaf of bread from the cabinet and proceeded to slice it.

"Talked to Chris today." And even thought to anyone else that might tell nothing, to Gibbs it said a lot. He knew how torn up his young lover was that his parents didn't understand nor except his sexual orientation and the fact that he talked to his brother and was now feeling a bit down most likely meant that they hadn't come around yet.

"Still no change?"

"Nope, they still think it's a phase. I asked Chris not to tell them about us since I don't think it would do any good right now," Gibbs could understand the logic behind that, besides the only person to know about their relationship was Abby and Chris, Tony's brother had been the first person they actually told about it.

"I talked to Abby today," Jethro waited to see how his lover would react and he didn't have to wait for long. The Goth's name was barely out of his mouth as the younger man's muscles stiffened and he cursed as the knife he had been using to cut the bread didn't go where he wanted it to but nicked his finger instead.

Gibbs got up and took the injured finger into his hand and pulled it towards the sink to clean it off.

"I think you're supposed to use the knife on the bread and not on your finger," He said as he cleaned the cut and seeing that it was no bigger than a paper cut he reached into one of the cupboards and took out a band aid which he used to cover the small nick.

"What did you talk about?" Tony asked in a controlled voice as he watched the older man work on his finger.

"Actually I more or less listened to her and Ducky talking. She feels bad Tony. I think she finally realized how wrong she was about you and wants to make things right," Gibbs let go of the younger man's hand and pushed him to the side with his hip and took up slicing the rest of the bread as the younger man went to pour the soup.

"After that conversation I think I'm not the only one in need of some comfort food," Tony said with a small smile as he placed the two bowls on the table and placed spoons next to both bowls.

Gibbs placed the bread into a basket and placed it in the middle of the table and then took the butter from the fridge as well as a carton of apple juice, the only right way to enjoy chicken soup was with a tall glass of apple juice.

"You think you could forgive her?" Gibbs asked before taking a mouthful of the soup, he was always amazed how a sworn bachelor like Tony could cook something so good.

"Never was about me forgiving her, I did that the very night she was there. Besides she's more your concern anyhow seeing as you've known her the longest, you think you're ready to let it go?"

Tony didn't look up from his bowl of soup, but Jethro could still tell that he was being sincere. One thing he had learned about the younger man during the last month was that he didn't hold a grudge. The hurt he was feeling and guilt for making others feel bad, those he could carry around for as long as possible, but forgiving and forgetting was like a second nature to him. Sometimes Gibbs was especially happy for that trait, every time he did something stupid to upset the younger man he was thankful for it, but on the other hand there were times the older man wished Tony wasn't so damn cavalier about these things. Sometimes it made him wonder whether the younger man didn't believe he was worth the fuss.

But even if the younger man hadn't held a grudge, both were aware that there had been a cloud hanging over their relationship for the whole month, what with Abby's bad reaction as well as Tony's parents being less than supportive of their youngest son's choices.

They ate in silence after that, both men lost in thought as they thought about the events of the day and how to take it from there. Once they were both done with their food the men just sat there for a minute before Gibbs picked up their earlier conversation.

"I think if she hadn't hurt you with what she said I would have just let it go, as it is I expect her to apologize to you for her words and actions before I can put the incident behind me."

Tony nodded his head at the words. He had gotten to know the older man a lot recently and was well aware of his protectiveness towards the people he cared about and it made his heart warm every time he realized that he was one of those people LJ would move heaven and earth for.

"I can deal with that. Is she going to make us being together a problem?" Both men knew that if the word got out that they were seeing each other that there was a good chance Tony would be moved out of his team and neither man wanted that to happen.

"Nope." And that was that. Tony trusted the older man and there was no need for him to explain it more than that.

The Italian nodded his understanding and moved to cover his mouth with his hand as he yawned widely. He looked at the clock and was startled to realize that it was already getting late. He bit his lower lip hesitantly as he looked at the other man.

"You, um, staying the night?" The hopeful look in the green eyes would have made it impossible for Gibbs to refuse even if he had wanted to, which he didn't.

"Sure, I should still have enough clean clothes here so I won't have to stop by my place in the morning."

Tony gave him a dazzling smile as they got up and after cleaning up headed to the bedroom and got ready for bed. Soon they were both lying down on the bed and the younger man snuggled closer to the warm body next to him as they settled more deeply under the covers.

"Good night LJ."

"Night Tony, Don't let the bedbug bite," Gibbs smiled as the younger man harrumphed as he pulled the older man closer that they were lying spooned together with Tony in front of the other man.

"My bed doesn't have bedbugs. Your Sears bought bed and cheap sheets on the other hand..." Jethro gave the man a not so gentle head slap for that even as his lips curled upwards into a smile.

"Shudding up Boss," The younger man mumbled into his pillow.

"Go to sleep DiNozzo" There was no answer but a snore coming from the younger man. Gibbs shook his head as he wondered, and not for the first time, how someone could fall asleep so fast. He pulled the sleeping body closer as he himself closed his eyes and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep too.

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning the two men went to work driving separate car like every other time when they ended up sleeping at each other's place. Both made small pit stops on the way in, Gibbs for some extra strong coffee and Tony for some quality tea as his stomach was churning enough as it was without adding coffee to the mix.

The younger man parked his car in his usual spot and sat still for a while, contemplating his next course of action. He had talked with Gibbs some earlier that morning as they got ready for work and they agreed it would be good for Tony to head down to see Abby at some point during the morning.

Now he just had to figure out whether to get it over with and go straight down to the lab or to wait a while until he had some excuse for heading down there apart from the talk he knew LJ wanted him and the lab tech to have.

Tony sighed as he got out of the car and locked the door behind him. He made his way into the NCIS building and exchanged good morning's with the guards and a few of the agents he had come to know and like during his short time at the agency before he made his way to the elevator. He hesitated for a second before pressing the button that would take him to the level where the lab was located.

He watched as the elevator doors closed and sighed as he let himself rest his back against the back wall of the small cubicle. He didn't understand why he felt so nervous about the upcoming talk '_confrontation'_ his mind supplied in a not very helpful way. He watched the lights indicating the floors changing and all too soon reached the floor he was supposed to get off on.

Not wanting to put it off any longer since he knew his mind would run a mile a minute and supply him with all the possible negative outcomes of seeing the Goth who had in the past made it no secret that she hated him. Tony took a deep breath and stepped off the elevator and made his way to the lab where he could hear the pounding music coming from, signaling that the lab tech had already gotten to work.

Tony hesitated again for a brief second before angrily pushing his doubts and hesitations to the back of his mind. He wasn't used to feeling so out of sorts just because someone didn't take a shining to him. Hell the whole Baltimore PD had hated his guts and he hadn't really cared. Well to be fair those people hadn't meant so much to LJ as Abby obviously did, it had been hard watching the older man keep his distance from the girl who was so clearly dear to his heart. Tony didn't want to screw up the progress the two had made the previous evening.

He shook his head as he realized he'd let his thoughts drift a bit and stepped through the swooshing doors that led into the Goth's inner sanctum known as the lab.

It didn't take long to pin point the other person's location as Abby seemed to be in the middle of what looked to be a very delicate test that needed a lot of concentration. The girl intently looked through a pair of goggles at a tall glass she was pouring some liquid into, making the whole concoction take on a weird bright pink color.

Tony waited until the test reached a conclusion and the girl put down the things from her hands, so he wouldn't startle her and make her drop the items, before he turned the music down a bit.

Abby whirled around ready to snap at whoever it is who had dared to touch her music, but upon finding Tony standing by the entrance to her lab looking rather tense she swallowed it down and took a step closer to her visitor.

She studied the young man closely, for the first time really taking a good and close look at the man she had judged and convicted without really giving him a chance to defend himself. What she saw contradicted everything she had accused him of being.

Tony was wearing a bright grin to show how nervous he wasn't, but looking closer Abby could see that behind the blinding smile and cocky bravado there was something she hadn't even bothered to search for and it made her feel more guilty than before.

It didn't take long for DiNozzo to grow uncomfortable under the piercing gaze and he cleared his throat.

"Miss Sciuto, I was hoping to have a word with you if you're not too busy."

Abby gave a sheepish smile as her cheeks reddened slightly with embarrassment at the formal way she had been addressed. After all it was what she had been demanding the new agent call her for the past month.

"Abby's fine, you mind if I call you Tony?" Another thing she had made a habit was calling Tony by his last name if she deemed it necessary to call him anything at all.

"Tony works for me," The Italian said as his shoulders loosened slightly at the non hostile start to the encounter.

Abby took that as a good sign and motioned for the man to sit on one of the stools in front of her computer desk.

"Cool, I was just doing a test mixing of Caff!pow with cherry essence and some other stuff since I have no work right now and I decided to try and give my favorite drink a new twist."

Tony raised an eyebrow at the explanation and couldn't contain the broad grin that spread on his face as he though how it had looked more like the girl had been mixing dangerous chemicals than doing a new cocktail.

The Goth watched as he took a seat before going back to get her glass of new and improved Caff!pow and returning to take the stool across from the man. She took a sip of her drink and made a face at the flavor of the drink before pushing the glass away from herself.

"So..." Tony began hesitantly, not really sure how to start the conversation.

"Tony," Abby cut him off, making the Italian raise his eyes to meet hers, "I'm sorry," She said before biting her lip briefly as she contemplated what to say, "I shouldn't have been so quick to judge you and only based on your background and an image I got from that. I know I hurt you a lot with my actions and I also hurt the Bossman since I can now see how strongly he feels about you. I'm so sorry please don't hate me!"

There were tears in her eyes as she finished and not pausing to think about it too much she launched herself off the stool and onto Tony who just barely managed to keep her from knocking them both to the floor.

Initially he tensed at the unexpected contact, but relaxed and brought his arms around the girl whispering more apologizes into his shoulder as she hugged him with all her might. It was the first time he was subjected to a full blown Abby hug and he found that he actually liked the contact. He was a very tactile person and connected best with people through friendly touch, no matter how casual or seemingly insignificant it might be. And the hug was nothing if not friendly in nature.

Tony let the embrace last for a while before he pulled back to look into her eyes.

"I'm not mad at you Abby. You're right you did hurt me, but I never hated you. And I appreciate you changing your opinion of me. " He sighed deciding to give her a bit more than that. "Like I said before I didn't have the easy life you might think, though I did have a loving family. I've been going through some stuff lately and that was probably why your rejection felt so..." He was grasping for a word to describe how it had felt, but his vocabulary seemed to have deserted him.

"I really am sorry Tony, Ducky made me realize a few things and I saw that my reaction to you was nothing to reflect on you, but was more about me being an idiot. I didn't want to get close to you and have you move on from here after a little while and make me miss you and have Gibbs be a more of a bear than usual." She had dropped her eyes but now she raised them again to meet the compassionate gaze leveled at her by the green eyes. It made her feel like a fool as she looked into those eyes and realized how wonderful a person she had tried to push away from her and NCIS.

Tony smiled slightly at her and gave her a small hug of his own managing to surprise the Goth.

"Don't worry about it." Standing up Tony let his curiosity get the best of him and he took the glass Abby had previously left on the table after taking a taste. He sniffed it delicately and upon seeing that the Goth was just watching him curiously with her head tilted to the side but wasn't objecting to him taking her drink he took a small sip.

He put the glass down as he coughed at the strong surge of burning he felt as the liquid filled his mouth and he sputtered at the vile taste.

"Jeez Abby, that stuff's nasty" He turned watery eyes at the Goth who was unsuccessfully trying to contain the giggles trying to erupt from her mouth.

"I think I put too much color in it. Should have figured something so pink couldn't be good."

Tony looked at her like she had grown two heads, deciding to not comment on the bright pink knee high socks she was wearing.

He coughed once more before taking a sip of the bottle of water Abby had gotten after taking pity on the Italian.

Neither had noticed Gibbs entering the lab just as Tony finished coughing before he made his presence known by his demanding voice.

"What are you two doing?"

Both the younger people jumped at the unexpected voice and turned to look at the silver haired man who had came in search for his agent to make sure the two people hadn't killed each other.

Tony was the first to recover from the surprised state and pointed an accusatory finger at the Goth.

"Abby tried to poison me!"

The lab tech swirled around to punch him in the arm as she stated incredulously. "I did not!"

They got in a mature argument which consisted of Tony repeating 'Did too' And Abby answering with 'Did not' and a few hand gestures until Gibbs put a stop to it.

"Enough!" Gibbs voice made the two young people finish the argument while sticking their tongues at each other and trying to contain their smiles.

Gibbs did his best to keep his stern face even if he was feeling rather amused by the display he had just witnessed. He was also feeling relieved that the tension between the two had been broken and they seemed to be getting along better, if the fact that Tony had called the Goth Abby was anything to go by.

"DiNozzo get back to the bullpen, your report on the last case needs rewriting and I want it on my desk by noon." As the younger man left with a groan he turned to the young woman.

"And you Abby, don't let him drink anymore Caff!pow, he can't handle the amount of caffeine without driving me crazy."

Abby smiled and gave a small salute, "Got it Bossman, no Caff!pow for Tony." She then gave the older man a hug and after receiving a small kiss to her forehead went to her office to work on her computer.

Gibbs smiled as he made his way to the elevator. He was glad Tony and Abby had made a start on trying to become friends, now only if the situation with the younger man's family would resolve itself they could move on from all of this.

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **_**Hiya folks! So here's chapter 4, Thank you to everyone for reviewing, it means a lot that you've taken the time to tell me what you think of the fic so far :D Thank you also to my wonderful beta Finlaure who was again a great help. The bit about Blacader you'll find in the chapter isn't canon, just something i made up. Just wanted to be clear on that :) (again thanks to my beta for pointing that out for me :D). **_

_**I will start Practical Training again tomorrow and I will be working in a neurological rehabilitation ward for the next six weeks and I will most likely be running myself ragged during that time. I will try to keep the one chapter a week posting rate, but I do ask for you all to have patience if I take a bit longer with updates... But anyways, hope you enjoy the chap :D**_

When Gibbs stepped out of the lab and made his way towards the elevator he saw Tony standing in front of the metal doors waiting for it reach their level.

The older man sneaked behind the Italian and carefully leaned over his shoulder to speak directly into his ear.

"You know if you'd have taken the stairs you'd already be working on that report of yours." He smiled evilly when the younger man jumped and whirled around, startled by the sudden appearance and the proximity of his boss.

"Jeez Boss! If you trying to give me a heart attack then at least make sure there's a doctor nearby when you do it. And I have no idea why you want me to rewrite that report, it was fine!"

Both men turned towards the elevator as it dinged just before the doors slid open and the men stepped inside and Gibbs pressed the button for bullpen.

"Since when do I need to explain my reasons to you? Besides your grammar is worse than that of a ten year old not to mention your typing skills!" Gibbs said in an exasperated tone as he faced his agent who was standing at the back of the elevator as he himself stood at the front of it.

"I'm not that bad," Tony whined as he stared at the other man, the snort that answered him made him frown.

"Perpetrator has a T in the middle and sentenced is not written with two S's."

Tony groaned at such stupid typos and decided a change in topic might be in order.

"Did you have something else in your mind or did you come to get me for that?" He inquired as the elevator reached their floor and he followed Gibbs out into the bullpen and towards their section of it.

"Well I had to see if you two were both still in one piece didn't I?" Gibbs ignored the crooning 'Didn't know you cared' In favor of continuing without breaking his stride. "And I just had a chat with the director and he feels we need a third member on our team."

He went over to his desk and looked over it at the younger man who had stopped to stand in the middle of the space between their desks and had twisted his face into something most likely meant as a grimace.

"We just got rid of Blackader, please don't tell me he's gonna spring another one like that on us? I mean c'mon she hated my guts even more than Abby when she first met me. Not to mention the woman was so uptight it made _my_ scalp hurt in sympathy when I saw the bun on her head." He rubbed the back of his head in emphasis.

Vivian had worked with the two men for all of two weeks before she returned to her previous job at the FBI, Gibbs had to agree with Tony's description of the woman. Maybe if she hadn't been so high strung she might have survived longer on the team, as it was she left after one too many times of trying to handle Gibbs' driving and trying to survive DiNozzo's curiosity and what she called 'his juvenile attitude and childish antics'.

"Not gonna happen, I'm gonna pick the person we think fits in." Gibbs saw Tony bouncing in his place and he fixed the younger man with a glare but it didn't deter his excitement.

"I get to decide too?" The older man rolled his eyes at the puppy like excitement over something like this and pointed at the Italian's desk.

"Report. Now. You've got two hours," He looked down at his own paperwork.

"But you said-"

"You want me to make that one?" He raised his eyes to lock gazes with the younger man as he raised an eyebrow in challenge nodding in satisfaction as Tony stood at attention and threw him a salute that would have made any drill sergeant proud and threw out a sharp, "No boss, getting to work now boss." before he turned on his heels and made his way behind his desk, all the way muttering under his breath about bastards with mood swings and a god complex.

Gibbs just bit back a smile and started his own work.

The two worked in silence for the rest of the morning, once the younger of the two handed in his report, triple spell checked this time, and he was given a bunch of cold cases to keep him busy until they caught a hot one. At noon Gibbs stood up from his desk and told Tony to head out for lunch.

"You gonna come with?" The younger man asked casually as he put on his jacket he'd took off earlier and placed on the back of his chair, when he received no answer he looked up to find his boss pulling on his own jacket.

"Lunching with Duck."

Tony couldn't help but grin at the short statement. "You know that would make an interesting name for a movie, it could be a bit like breakfast at Tiffany's but with a more- " Tony had moved in front of his desk while talking so Gibbs didn't have to reach out much to deliver a solid head slap to the back of his head on his way past him.

DiNozzo stared after him for a second before hurrying to catch up with him so they could take the same elevator.

Once the doors closed in front of them and they were left alone in the confines of the box which started on its way as soon as the men pressed the buttons for the lobby and autopsy Tony turned to LJ.

"So, Ducky wants a progress report huh? What're you gonna tell him?"

Gibbs grinned slightly at the statement as he flipped the emergency stop button and the car came to a shuddering halt. He turned to regard his lover carefully as he deciphered what the younger man was asking behind his simple question.

"You wanna know if I'm telling him about us?" Gibbs raised an eyebrow at the younger man, demanding he tell the truth.

Tony sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "You know I wouldn't mind if you tell him, hell I've been trying to get you to do that for a while."

He had been on his lover's case for a week, trying to get the older man to tell his oldest and closest friend the truth about their relationship. He liked the eccentric old ME and wanted him to be in the know as he was sure he wouldn't make a big deal out of him and Gibbs being together, but seeing as LJ had know him the longest, it was only fair to let him decided whether or not to bring his friend in the know.

Jethro snorted and without thinking retorted, "Not like you've told your folks yet either."

He could have head slapped himself as he saw his lover's shoulders tense and his eyes narrow as he flipped the emergency switch.

"That is not the same thing. You have a friend who most likely will support you whatever you do, my 'folks'," He made quotation marks with his fingers at that, "Would probably erase me from their will and life if they found out how lost cause I really am, if they haven't already." The last part was added more as an afterthought and the mere thought seemed to pain the young man greatly.

Before Gibbs could respond the elevator dinged as it arrived at the lobby and Tony strode out without looking back.

Gibbs watched as the elevator doors closed, glad that no one had entered the small space as he really wasn't in the mood to deal with them. He rubbed a hand over his face and sighed.

His young lover was used to his bastard moments at work, but he tried his best to tone that side of himself down a notch when they were at home, which hadn't been a problem until now. Technically they had been at work, but the subject was something they normally only discussed when they were off the clock so he felt guilty for letting the bastard side out so that he'd hurt the younger man by saying something as stupid as he had.

He knew Tony wasn't normally sensitive enough to take his words personally, but bringing up the one thing that had the younger man insecure and hurting, and to top it all off he had made the whole thing sound a petty, insignificant thing. He could have kicked himself for the slip up when everything had been going so well that morning.

Gibbs pressed another button on the elevator wall and made a quick detour to the cafeteria to get lunch for both himself and his friend before returning to the elevator and heading to autopsy.

He took a deep breath as he reached the correct floor and made his way into the morgue where he found his old friend tidying up after having autopsied a body for another team earlier that morning. The older man looked up as he heard the doors open and smiled at the other man.

"Oh Jethro, I was just about to head up to fetch you in a minute. Gerald has already left for lunch, the boy had a date so I decided to take care of this myself and let him leave a bit earlier so he wouldn't be late."

After seeing the expression on his friend's face and the bag held in his hand Ducky stopped his ramblings and put away the last of his instruments before turning back to the other man.

"Oh my, judging by your expression not all went as well as I hoped." He motioned for Gibbs to follow him into his office and closed the door once they were both inside.

The men settled at Ducky's desk and Gibbs distributed the lunches and drinks he'd bought and they both began to unwrap their meals.

"So, things didn't go as smoothly with you and Abigail as one could have hoped?"

Gibbs took a drink from his mug of coffee he'd gotten from the cafeteria and shook his head.

"Things with Abby went well, hell even she and DiNozzo were getting along fine this morning after they had a talk." He answered as he eyed his lunch as if trying to make it disappear with just his gaze.

Ducky nodded his head in satisfaction after hearing that his intervention had indeed had the desired results and took a bite of his own meal. "So if not Abigail, I would venture it is young Anthony that is the source of your distress then."

Gibbs sighed and stopped pretending to be eating and leaned back in his chair and gripped his coffee mug. "Just showed him how the second b really is for Bastard"

Ducky clucked his tongue at that. "And what exactly did you do?"

The team leader looked contrite and the ME sighed in exasperation. "For heaven's sake Jethro, you really should have learned something by now. I mean three failed marriages should have taught you something."

At Gibbs' startled look Ducky let a small smile lift one corner of his mouth. "What? If you really thought I wouldn't realize there was something between you two after the way you reacted to him being shunned by our dear Abigail I must say I'm rather surprised."

Jethro shook his head angrily and stood up to pace the length of the office.

"Well now that you already know I just hurt his feelings for nothing."

At Ducky's puzzled look he explained first how Tony's parents had reacted to the younger man coming out to them and then about what had happened in the elevator earlier. He didn't look at the ME as he spoke, just kept pacing. His steps faltered and he turned to look at his friend as he heard his reproachful voice coming from behind the desk.

"You really are an idiot." And that was a sentiment he agreed whole heartedly.

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

Tony marched out of the NCIS building with a quick nod to the guards as he made a beeline for a coffee shop just across the street from the headquarters. He had planned to go out to get some lunch at one of the little restaurants a few blocks away, but after the incident in the elevator he wasn't really hungry anymore.

He raised the collar of his jacket as the biting autumn wind made him shiver slightly as he made his way over to the coffee shop. He went inside and after waiting in line for a while since the lunch hour rush was making the line a long one, he ordered a big cup of tea to go. He waited patiently as the guy behind the counter poured him the tea and paid for the cup when it was done. He took a moment to pour some milk and to drizzle a bit of honey into the cup before stirring the contents and placing a lid on it.

He nodded to the guy and some of the other patrons he recognized as fellow NCIS employees, as he made his way out of the busy shop. He stepped outside and took a long drink out of his cup and made a conscious effort to release some of the tension in his shoulders.

Tony made his way to a nearby park and sat down on one of the benches as he looked around the few people scattered around the place. He wrapped his hands around the warm cup as the wind picked up once again and scattered around the leaves that had already fallen down from the trees in preparation for the winter season to come.

He took another sip of his tea as he contemplated going back to headquarters before dismissing the idea. He wanted to get his temper under control before facing Gibbs again, granted his burst of emotions had somewhat died down during his wait at the coffee shop and the brief walk to the park. But there was still something simmering just below the surface and he was at loath to give it a chance to flare up again.

Tony ran his free hand through his hair as he tried to reason his reaction to his lover's and boss' words that usually would have only served to irritate him slightly but now seemed to have caused a whole myriad of emotions ranging for hurt to anger and even slight disbelief. He couldn't believe Gibbs had thrown that in his face after they had specifically avoided the subject of Tony's parents for a while now.

It wasn't that the younger man didn't want to talk about it. He just didn't know where he stood with the senior DiNozzo's anymore and thus wanted to keep from thinking about the whole thing until his parents would give some indication of coming to terms with his revelation all those weeks before.

More than anything though he didn't want to think about any of the mess with his family since he was scared to think that there might not be a family for him to fall back on anymore. The DiNozzo's had always been a tight knit family, always taking care of each other and Tony had been the youngest of the two siblings and that had somehow made him seem more vulnerable in his parents eyes and they had always been there to support and sometimes even protect him if needed. Not that they weren't the same with his brother, but for some reason they were more determined to keep him safe and trusting Chris to be old enough and not need as much taking care of.

Now though he wasn't sure he had that anymore.

He shook his head and got up to return to the NCIS building, the earlier whirl of emotions had settled mostly and he was almost ready to face Gibbs once more. Not that he'd really been angry with the older man to begin with, but somehow the badly timed comment had made the feelings of fear and loss he had been trying to hide, come to the front and he'd reacted to that with anger, because as far as emotions go, that one was much easier to deal with and to work off.

That in mind he lengthened his strides so he could get back to the headquarters. He had some time left of his lunch and he was going to make the most of it by directing all the left off frustration and other stuff to the punching bag at the NCIS gym.

When Gibbs got back to the bullpen after his lunch with Ducky he was disappointed to note that Tony hadn't arrived at his desk yet. Glancing at the clock he saw that his own chat with his friend hadn't taken as much time as he originally though so he sat down at his desk to more or less patiently work through his mountain of paper work as he kept glancing at elevator to see when his agent would get back.

It took less than five minutes for Gibbs to lose any interest he had in the paperwork and another five to start glancing more frequently at the clock and the elevator as the younger man had yet to make an appearance.

A few more minutes ticked by before the lead agent's head snapped up at the ping of the elevator and his shoulders loosened at the sight of Tony striding towards his own desk.

He took a close look at the younger man and was pleased to note that he was looking more relaxed than he had been when he'd left earlier, he noticed that his hair was slightly damp and he had fresh clothes on, but chose to not comment on it.

The team leader met the younger man's eyes over the distance separating their desks and he frowned slightly as the man gave him a shrug and a small apologetic smile. It wasn't like the young Italian had anything to be sorry about. He had been perfectly within his rights to react like he had to the older man's words.

Gibbs did the only thing he could think of that wouldn't raise any suspicion as he couldn't damn well go over to DiNozzo to correct his assumption about being the one at fault as that just wasn't like him.

He pressed a button on his keyboard to get the blank computer screen to clear and with only little fumbling opened the Instant messaging thingy and smiled slightly in relief as he saw Tony logged in as well.

_'Not your fault' _He typed and sent the message to the other man, they both knew he was too stubborn to apologize but from the small smile that graced the Italian's lips as he read the words, it was clear the sentiment had been understood.

_'My place Tonight? You bring the food and I'll provide drinks and entertainment' _Gibbs was tempted to add one of those smiley thingies that had a wink on their face to the end of the sentence, but even if he had somewhat mastered the art of using the IM- program, the smiley's eluded him and besides they really weren't his style.

There was only a short pause before the answer appeared on his computer screen.

_'It's a date' _

Gibbs shut off the IM window and turned his gaze to the mountain of paperwork still waiting for him. He glared at the offending files until he heard a choked off snort coming from the direction of his agent's desk. He turned to look at the other man only to find him staring at his own computer and trying unsuccessfully to hide a smirk.

The older man raised an eyebrow in question and frowned at the answer he got.

"Don't think you can make them disappear just glaring at them." Tony had given up any attempt at holding his smirk back or pretending to be engrossed in his work at that point as he indicated the files on the older man's desk.

Gibbs glared at him until the younger man turned back to his computer with a muttered, 'getting back to work'. He ducked his head a bit to hide his own smirk. It was good to see that they had managed to get past his small faux pas at the elevator. His smirked widened as he thought about the evening, Tony might have forgiven him but that didn't mean he couldn't still make it up to the younger man now did it.

TBC...


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hiya Folks! So here's chapter 6 for your enjoyment. I rewrote the chapter few times and I'm still not terribly happy with the results but here it is anyways :D Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far, I really appreciate every single comment that I get :) **_

Gibbs looked at the clock on the wall and contemplated leaving work early so he could get things well prepared for when Tony came to dinner. He looked up to find the younger man looking back at him with amusement dancing in his green eyes, as if he knew why he kept glancing at the clock.

He gave the younger man a glare which prompted him to go back to his paper work and the two men worked in silence for a while before the ringing of the team leader's phone broke the sound of typing and shuffling files.

After barking his name to whoever dared to call him Gibbs listened intently and nearly groaned out in frustration as a new case was given to him and his agent. He scribbled down the details before putting the phone down and standing up. "Gear up, we've got a case" He pulled on his jacket, holstered his gun and grabbed his badge before striding towards the elevator, smirking slightly at the sound of his agent scurrying to catch up.

Unfortunately the case proved to be more complicated than either man hoped for and their dinner plans went out the window with a quiet promise of a rain check. The body they had been called out to investigate had turned out to belong to one Mark Pierson who worked at an armory at the naval base. After further investigation it became clear that there were a complex gun running operation behind the murder which resulted in an undercover operation to bring down the gun ring.

It took two weeks of undercover work on Tony's part as an interested buyer with Gibbs and Pacci's team as backup before they managed to organize a fake buy where they planned to bust everyone involved in the operation.

The plan went surprisingly well and only a few shots were fired as the NCIS agents swarming the warehouse overpowered the perps. Gibbs entered the place behind the swat team who had gone first to apprehend the people involved.

He looked around to find his agent to see how he'd fared during the bust. There was always the risk of being hurt taking down the men and even more so with undercover work, there was always the chance of your cover being blown to smithereens.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Tony sitting on one of the crates in the warehouse, but he frowned when he saw the hand he was holding to the back of his head and what looked to be a bloody rag showing under the hand.

The younger man looked up as he heard the approaching footsteps and grinned as he saw who it was coming from the direction of the doors.

"Hey Boss!" He waved the hand not holding the rag to the back of his head and moved to stand up only to be pushed back down by a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey!" He protested at not being allowed to stand up and tried to get up again only to be stopped again by Gibbs.

"Stay still until the medics check you out. What the hell happened?" Gibbs was happy to see his lover after the long undercover op, but he was worried and a bit pissed about him getting hurt somewhere along the way to getting the op wrapped up.

"Don't need them, just got a bit of a cut when this idiot," He pointed at one of the men that was being hauled out in cuffs. "Decided to be my personal savior and knocked me to safety once the cavalry arrived," He winched as Gibbs took his hand away from its spot over the wound and pulled back the rag that had by now became glued to his hair by the blood.

"Ended up doing more harm than good when my head connected with one of the crates."

"Any nausea, blurred vision or dizziness?" He asked gruffly seeing that the wound was indeed small and would probably only need a stitch or two if even that.

"Nope, just a headache the size of Texas," Tony decided to be completely honest with his condition for once in the hopes of warding off being poked and prodded and asked stupid questions by the medics.

Gibbs nodded once and threw the rag away in favor of using a clean handkerchief to put on the wound.

"C'mon, let's get out of here and we can have Ducky take a look at that." Tony stood up and looked at the other man with a raised eyebrow.

"You don't wanna over see the processing?"

Gibbs shook his head as he ushered his agent out of the warehouse and into his car barking a few orders to the men already processing the scene.

"Pacci's taking care of that, I have some interrogations to get to," There was an air of anticipation in the statement that caused Tony to grin. Even if they had shut down the gun running operation there was still the matter of finding out which one of the people involved was the one to kill their original victim.

The two men went to the NCIS building and after a quick visit to Ducky and getting some stitches to close the wound on the Italian's head and to make sure there was nothing else wrong aside from a minor concussion, the men split, Tony heading to take a shower in the locker rooms to take a shower and change his clothes while Gibbs went into the bullpen.

Tony loved the undercover work, it was after all the area where he could really show his skills, but there was always the grimy feeling afterwards. Every time he went under the first thing he did after the op was finished was take a shower to rid himself of the feeling.

After putting away the clothes he'd worn during the op and taking his time cleaning up, he donned the clothes he liked best and sighed in bliss as he looked in the mirror and looked like himself again. He finished up and went into the bullpen finding Gibbs working at his desk.

The older man looked up as he entered their work area and went to sit at his own desk, but he quickly went back to his work after seeing that the younger man was fine.

Tony grinned at the subtle show of caring and opened his desk drawer to pull out his cell he'd had to leave behind during the operation. He switched on the power and punched in his PIN number. He looked at the amount of missed calls he'd gotten and raised an eyebrow when he saw that his brother Chris had tried to reach him earlier that day and the day before. He checked his messages and there were a few ones from his friends but what caught his attention was the short message from Chris saying 'call me ASAP!'

He pressed speed dial three and waited for the other man to answer.

"_About time you called, where on earth have you been?" _The older DiNozzo sounded tired, agitated and worried all at the same time and Tony frowned at that.

"Just got back for an op, what's up bro?"

"_Are you okay?" _It had become a standard question from his brother to ask that every time he came back from an undercover gig, and it always warmed the younger man's heart that his brother cared enough to ask.

"I'm fine, but you still didn't tell me what's going on," He heard the sigh and sat up straighter as he wondered why the other man had tried to contact him.

"_Listen Tonio, There's been an accident, Dad's a little banged up with a broken arm, but he'll be fine."_

There was a pause and Tony knew there was more. "Is Mom there with him?"

"_Tony, she was in the car with him." _there was another pause and Tony held his breath aware that Gibbs was watching at him intently, no doubt having noticed the way he had gone pale and was now trying very hard to stop his hand from shaking. "Is she okay?"

"_She's got a skull fracture and there was some bleeding in her brain. She's in a coma and the doctor's don't know if she'll wake up." _

Tony shook his head, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"_Call me when you land, I'll come to pick you up from the airport. And Tony, have someone drive you to the airport, it won't make anything better if you get in an accident yourself." _

Tony nodded his head in agreement even if he knew the other man wouldn't be able to see him. He hung up the phone and stared at it for a second before he felt a hand on his shoulder bringing him back to himself.

"Tony, you okay?" Gibbs asked from where he stood beside his lover keeping a hand on his shoulder.

The younger man shook his head before he started hurrying to pack his stuff and got up quickly.

"My parents were in an accident, they're not sure- I need to get to New York." He couldn't say there was a chance his mother wouldn't wake up. He turned to the older man and saw the look in his eyes that told him the man was feeling conflicted.

"I know you need to wrap up the case, I'll be fine," He said correctly assuming the man was feeling bad for not being able to be there for him.

Gibbs nodded reluctantly even though he would have been more convinced if Tony's hands hadn't been shaking still, but he knew there was no way for him to leave right at the moment to go with the younger man. "Call me as soon as you can, that's an order." He squeezed the younger man's shoulder in support before stepping back so the Italian could get past him. "And call a cab, I don't want you driving right now," Tony smiled slightly at the words that echoed those of his brother's and he nodded before hurrying out of the bullpen, leaving Gibbs standing by his desk with a bad feeling in his gut.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

From the moment he left the naval yard to the point when he stepped out of the plane in New York and saw his brother standing there waiting for him, everything was a blur to Tony.

He vaguely remembered driving on autopilot to get to his apartment to fetch some things and then driving to the airport, even if he'd promised to Gibbs and Chris that he wouldn't drive, but apart from that it was like he'd teleported himself from DC to NY in a blink of an eye.

He took a deep breath as he made his way towards his brother who was moving towards him.

"Tonio," Chris greeted as the two men were standing in a touching distance facing each other and the older of the two pulled Tony into an embrace.

Neither man really knew what to say so they just stayed locked in the hug in the middle of the busy airport for a while, drawing strength from the connection that was special between the brothers. Tony turned his head so his face was pressed into Chris' jacket collar, but he didn't cry, just held on tight for a minute before pulling back and tilting his head back and blinking rapidly to make sure his eyes stayed dry.

"Let's go see them," Christopher said as he put his arm around the younger man's shoulders and led him outside and towards his car.

"Has there been any news?" Tony asked hesitantly, not really sure he wanted to know; as they said no news is good news, so he wasn't sure he wanted any.

"No, every thing's still the same. Dad's been released but he's staying with mom so she's not alone."

Nothing else was said as the men got into the car and made their way to the hospital, both of them too deep in thought and neither willing to voice the things going through their heads.

Tony didn't know what to think, the whole week had been such an up and down motion and he had been looking forward to finally being able to spend some quality time with his lover after the undercover op and now this. Some little troll reared its head and its voice in his head suggested that maybe this was his parents' plan all along, do whatever it takes to spoil his plans with his lover to make him 'right', but he quickly smothered the thought before it could even fully form. He felt embarrassed for even thinking something like that and he rubbed his temples as the pain in his head seemed to intensify as the thought swirled in his head.

He wondered briefly why his brother hadn't asked him about the bandage on the back of his head but one probing hand confirmed that there was nothing there but a row of stitches and a few small bits of caked blood, both most likely adequately hidden by his hair. He would have wondered where the bandage had gone since he was sure Ducky would have put one over the stitches, but in the end he really didn't care.

Right then he only cared about the fact that he was going to go see his parents and that it might be one of the last opportunities for him to see his mother ever.

_No! _Not thinking like that, she'd be fine. He needed to hold onto the hope that she would pull through whatever was going on with her, with Gibbs not there to keep him together, that thought was the only thing stopping him from falling to pieces.

Parking the car in the hospital's parking lot Chris looked over at his brother with worry evident in his gaze. He had never seen the younger man so quiet and subdued and the way he kept rubbing his temples and sometimes running a hand over the back of his head were sure signs he had a headache. The fact that Tony let himself show the pain so blatantly was very uncharacteristic for him, sure he played the part of a drama queen to his best abilities, but he never showed real pain if someone was looking. He always said something about it being a sign of weakness.

He gently laid a hand on the other man's arm as he opened his own seat belt he wasn't really surprised to see him startle at the contact.

"We're here," He said as the green eyes sought his and he hated the way he could see the younger man square his shoulders and hide every trace of his own pain whether emotional or physical. He never liked how easy his brother found it to hide so much of himself.

"Lead the way," Tony said with something he probably thought sounded cheery but only made Chris frown as the falseness of the tone rang in his ear.

"C'mon," Chris said as he got out of the car and waited for the other man to fall into step with him before heading towards the hospital entrance.

"The ICU's on the third floor," If he hadn't been watching his brother closely from the corner of his eye, Chris wouldn't have noticed the small stumble the words caused in the younger man's step. Apparently the act wasn't able to hide everything after all. In some weird way the older brother felt a sense of satisfaction at that since keeping everything bottled up would eventually cause things to blow in the younger man's face and any and all leaks would help maintain things together for longer than if nothing showed through. Or so he hoped at least.

Tony cursed himself for the small falter in his steps as he heard his mother was in the ICU, logically it made sense. She was in a coma and had a skull fracture so of course they wanted to keep a close eye on her, but he hadn't been thinking logically. Somehow he'd hoped they'd get to the hospital only to hear that everything was fine and it was a false alarm, but they didn't keep you in the ICU if all it was a false alarm would they.

He didn't notice when they reached the intensive care unit's doors or when Chris exchanged a few quiet words with a nurse at the information desk. He only roused from his thoughts when he realized they'd come into a standstill and he looked up and saw that they were standing in front of a window looking into a hospital room.

He looked more closely and realized how it wasn't just any room, it was _the_ room. The one where he could see his mother lying so still and pale on a hospital bed with his father sitting in a chair next to her. He briefly noticed that Antonio was holding his wife's hand with his good one before his attention was drawn to all the medical equipment in the view. There was a respirator pushing air in her lungs and a heart monitor that drew a constant stream of ups and downs on a screen. There were other things as well but those were the ones that most caught his eye. The heart monitor served to reassure him that she was still there, fighting, but the ventilator drove home the harsh truth that a machine was breathing for her as her lungs weren't up to the task.

He turned around for a moment as he processed what he'd just seen and he felt Chris place a hand on his shoulder in silent support. Tony took a deep breath and turned around ready to enter the room when a thought suddenly formed in his mind. He remembered the last conversation he'd had with his parents and how they'd fought and he couldn't help but frown as he turned troubled eyes at his older brother as he had to voice the thing plaguing his mind at the moment.

"What if they don't want me here?"

TBC...

_**A/N: Just wanted to get this chapter up before heading to work. I've got two night shifts (in a scary ass hospital that used to be a mental institution) so I figured I might as well post now rather that wait until Thursday evening when I would have gotten the next chance to do it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, reviews are like always greatly appreciated :D**_


	8. Chapter 8

Chris's breath caught at the naked vulnerability he could see in the eyes directed at him and he didn't even try to hide the horrified look on his face at the younger man's fear that their parents wouldn't want him near them at a time like this. He quickly moved to stand nose to nose with his brother and grabbed his neck in a hold just shy of using bruising force. He forced Tony to look into his eyes and pressed their foreheads together.

"You listen to me right now Tonio. No matter what's been going on with everything, they're still your parents and love you, they want you here."

There was so much conviction in the older man's voice and eyes that the younger of the two could do nothing but nod his head. It wasn't really enough to convince Chris that the younger man truly believed him, but he let go of his brother with one final squeeze, deciding that the little show of understanding had to do for now.

The two men turned their attention back to the window in front of them only to find that their father had noticed them through the glass and was standing up and moving towards the door with long strides. The brothers jumped back slightly as the door opened and Anthony DiNozzo senior stood in front of his sons for a second before wrapping his youngest in a bear hug, or as much as he could with one arm in a sling.

"I'm so glad to see you Tonio," The man breathed as he felt his son wrap his arms around him and return the hug, careful not to hurt the injured man.

"I'm sorry dad," Tony whispered into his father's shoulder, not really sure what he was apologizing for but feeling he needed to do so anyway.

The older man just tightened his hold minutely before turning his attention to the older of the brothers who gave him a small sad smile before heading into the room housing the woman they were all there for.

Anthony cleared his throat and pulled back slightly from his son as he looked at the younger man and motioned towards the hospital room with a jerk of his head.

"You want to go see her?" There really was no need to ask the question but the elder DiNozzo didn't know what to say and that was the only thing that he could come up with that didn't have anything to do with a certain subject he felt best to leave be for the time being.

Tony nodded his head and let his father lead him into the cool hospital room he had been observing via the window just a few minutes earlier. He kept his head down for a minute before looking up and directing his gaze at the occupant of the bed. Even though he'd seen the ventilator and the state of his mother through the glass, it was far worse to see it like this; standing in a touching distance it all seemed so much more real.

He swallowed hard before leaning close to his mother on the other side of the bed from his dad who'd reclaimed the seat by the bed. He pressed a kiss to the woman's cheek and took a hold of her hand, mindful of the IV on the back of it.

"Please get better mom, we're not ready to lose you," he whispered into her ear quietly enough so neither of the other men in the room heard him.

He straightened from his bent position and turned his attention to his father.

"Tell me how bad it is, and I mean both of you not just mom," Tony demanded wanting to know the details so he would know what was going on, now he felt like he was operating on just a scrap of information and he wanted no _needed _to know how bad it really was.

Anthony sighed but he knew his stubborn son and saw the determination in his eyes. He looked up at his oldest son only to find him leaning on the foot of the bed and raise his brow at his dad, daring him to lie to the youngest of the group.

"My arm was broken in the accident, but it was a clean break so there was no need for surgery. Otherwise I'm just a bit bruised and sore." He took a deep breath before getting to the hard part. "Celia, she banged her head on the side window hard enough that the impact broke her skull, there was some bleeding in her brain but the doctors are more worried about the swelling caused by the trauma. If it doesn't go down they're talking about surgery to relieve the pressure. She doesn't have other breaks, some minor cuts and bruises." He took a hold of his wife's hand and held onto it tightly as if afraid that repeating what was wrong would make her worse.

Tony nodded slowly, absorbing the information and trying to make sense of it.

"So she's gonna be okay? As long as the swelling goes down?" He looked from Chris to their dad but both shook their heads slowly.

"No way to know until she wakes up," The _if_ in the sentence didn't need to be voiced as all three of them knew it was there.

"I think you should go home and get some rest," Tony said to his dad as he saw the older man try to cover up a yawn. "You've been here since it happened and you're hurt." He turned his attention to Chris.

"You can go too, I'm sure Mary is waiting for you. I'll stay here with mom."

The two older men looked a bit unsure but soon agreed knowing that Tony needed some time with his mother. They knew that it wouldn't take long before the nurses would start enforcing ICU's two person's at a time and only for ten minutes visiting rules. The nurses had been willing to bend when Chris explained the situation to them. The rules would also mean that only one person could stay for a longer period of time.

"Junior, call us if there's any change." Anthony ordered as he got to his feet, hesitant to leave the boy alone with his mother and his thoughts. But as Tony nodded his agreement and rose to give both him and Chris a parting hug he decided he was being over protective. Even if he didn't want to leave his youngest or his wife, he did understand that he needed to get some rest so he could be there for his family later. Besides this way he could see how his oldest was coping with all of this.

So after a few more minutes the two elder men exited the room leaving Tony alone with his mother.

"You staying at the mansion?" Anthony confirmed from Chris as they walked towards the elevator that would take them to the lobby.

"Yeah, Mary's already there with Nicholas and Stefanie." The thought of his wife and beautiful five year-old girl and ten year-old boy caused him to smile slightly.

The older man nodded in satisfaction and they headed for the parking lot. Both men were lost in thought hoping everything would be alright with the woman who meant to much to them all.

"Tonio seemed tired don't you think. Is something wrong with him?" Anthony asked abruptly after they had ridden a while in silence, there was obvious worry in his voice.

"Not sure," Chris said with a shrug that belittled his own concern. "He said he was on an assignment so that could be it, he also seemed to have a headache so I guess that might affect him, not to mention everything else that has been going on."

For anyone who didn't know the two men it might have seemed weird the men were so worried for the younger man when it was Anthony and Celia who had been in an accident and were injured. But both Chris and his father were protectors and doers, there was little that they could do for Celia but to be there for her as much as possible. Tony was someone they both felt the need to keep safe and who needed it. The youngest of the family had no idea how to take care of himself properly. And both men were determined to take care of the younger man if the need arose, they just hoped the stubborn man would accept their concern and help graciously.

TBC...

_**A/N: So ya'll can thank my wonderful and super fast beta Finlaure for the fast update :) Also a huge thank you to her for coming up with the names for Chris' kids, I owe ya one dear ;) And the next chapter won't be up before next week, most likely it'll be nearer the end of the week before it'll be up, but I hope getting two chapters this week will ease the wait a bit ;) **_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: I'm here again and I have nothing sane to say so I'll just leave you folks to read the new chapter :D Please enjoy and feel free to tell me what you think ;)**_

Gibbs was feeling torn and for the first time in a long while he found his focus torn between wrapping up the case they had been working on and his home life.

He didn't like the fact that he had to stay behind and make sure the case would be handled properly. His subordinate and lover was dealing with the emotional stuff that came with his parents being injured in an accident. Gibbs was also worried that Tony was nursing a mild concussion and had to be exhausted after the hard op.

Another thing that grated him was the feeling of not knowing. He had no information on how badly either of the elder DiNozzo's had been hurt. It had only been an hour since the younger man left the office, but Gibbs was ready for him to call with a sit rep.

He shook his head as he contemplated his next move. The interrogations would have to be started and he needed to talk to the director about Tony being on leave for the time being. Maybe he'd be able to squeeze a few days off for himself once the case was closed as well.

He took the steps two at a time as he strode towards the director's office. He knew Morrow had by now gotten used to his abrupt way of just barging into the room without asking permission, though he did always knock before opening the door, even if he never bothered to wait for a response before entering. But the director still read the respect in the small allowance from Gibbs' usual bastard code of conduct.

This time the lead agent took the time to make sure the man was around from the director's assistant and offered the poor woman who thought she must be hallucinating a rare half smile before going to the door and knocking and even waiting for a permission to enter.

"Jethro," Morrow greeted the agent as he entered the room, he had an eyebrow raised in question for the newfound politeness of the gruff man now standing I front of his desk.

"Director," Gibbs said with a nod, which caused the eyebrow to climb higher on his old friend's fore-head.

"So it's one of those visits. What can I do for you special agent Gibbs?" There was a small half smile on Morrow's lips.

"DiNozzo has taken leave for an interminable time period. I Okayed it when he got a call that his parents had been in a car accident."

Morrow winched in sympathy. "How are they? DiNozzo doing okay? Heard he got a whack on the head during the bust," the thing everyone liked about the director was the fact that he really cared about his agents and the sincerity in the question was clear in his tone.

"DiNozzo's fine, he's got a hard head. Don't know about his parents though." The look in the agent's eyes spoke volumes to the other man and he nodded.

"How's the case coming along?" Morrow asked as he dug into one of his desk drawers.

"Haven't started the interrogations yet, but with the evidence we have it'll be mostly a formality. It'll probably take me a day at least to wrap this thing up even with Pacci helping with some of the clean up."

Again the director nodded his head as he placed a few papers on his desk and started filling them.

"Okay so I'll write a two weeks leave for Agent DiNozzo starting from today and I'll do the same for you starting from when you get the details all taken care of on this case." He raised a hand to interrupt any protest the other man might have and lifted his gaze from the papers he'd been signing to look at his friend and agent.

"After this latest case I was going to give you both a bit of time off anyway since the both of you have been working like crazy the past month. So you're getting the leave, what you do with it is your own business. If you'd happen to decide to go after your agent to make sure he's okay, far be it for me to say anything about that, or if you just so happen to spend the entire leave together." The head of the agency winked as he said the last bit and Gibbs could feel some apprehension settle in his gut.

"Director-"

"Agent Gibbs," the man cut him off, "You know how I feel about don't ask don't tell. So I'm not asking and I'd appreciate you not telling."

He then took the papers that were now filled and handed them to the agent who took them without question.

"And Jethro, in a more personal note I must say I'm very surprised, but I am happy for you. Don't screw this up Marine." There was seriousness in the man's eyes, but there was also a slight tingle of humor in there.

Gibbs smiled widely as the apprehension in his gut lessened and he felt relieved that Tom approved of his relationship with Tony, even if he couldn't say it exactly in those words and had to officially turn a blind eye to their doings.

"No sir I won't. Thanks Tom," And with those rare words of gratitude he turned to walk out the door, leaving a chuckling Morrow sitting behind his desk.

Tony sat beside the still form of his mother and clutched her limp hand in both of his. He brought the delicate hand closer to his mouth and pressed a kiss to its cool knuckles before gently trying to rub them warmer.

"I'm not leaving you mom. Just rest a bit and when you're ready to wake up I'll be here," He promised the unconscious form.

He sat there for a long time just taking comfort in seeing the rise and fall of the woman's chest, even if it was mechanically produced, it was still a sign that she was still holding on, as was the constant beeping of the heart monitor.

It had been some time since his plane had landed on the New York's airport and he was starting to feel tired with the trip from DC and the fallout o f the undercover op weighing him down, not to mention the headache that was still pounding behind his eyes. He let his eyes fall shut as he rested his head against the back of the chair. Not the most comfortable of positions but would do in a bind, heck if he complained of a sore neck Gibbs would probably-

His eyes sprang open and he sat up quickly as he remembered that he promised to call his lover with an update as soon as possible.

Tony looked at his mother who was just as still as before and he felt town between staying with her and going outside to make a call to his boss and lover. After a long hesitation he finally got up and with a whispered promise to be back as soon as possible and a kiss to the woman's cheek he got up and made his way to the door.

It took him a minute to orient himself as he stepped into the hall and find his way outside the ICU where he would be able to use his cell phone. Seeing a big balcony near the door he made his way there, deciding he could use some fresh air to clear his head and hopefully ease the ache in his head.

He stepped outside and blinked as he realized that it was later than he thought and the earlier sunlight had been exchanged by the lights of the city. He glanced at his watch and raised an eyebrow as he realized it was well over three hours since he arrived in the city.

He shook his head and took out his cell phone and pressed one of the speed dials. It didn't take long for Gibbs to pick up.

"Gibbs," The gruff voice made Tony smile slightly as he realized that his lover most likely had not bothered to check the caller ID before answering.

"Now that's not a very nice way to answer one's phone now is it?"

"Tony," there was a wealth of relief in the way the older man said his name that the Italian couldn't help but be warmed by the fact that Gibbs had been worried about him. "Everything okay?"

Tony took a deep breath and braced himself before telling his lover the status of his parents, somehow telling about it was harder than what he'd thought it would be.

"Dad's okay, well he's got a broken arm and some bruises but other than that. Mom-" He paused for a second before going on, "She's in a coma, they're not sure if she'll wake up."

There was a pause and Tony could almost see in his mind, his lover processing the information. Before he could answer though the phone went dead with a beep and as he took it from his ear to look at it, DiNozzo realized the battery must have run out, considering he hadn't charged it in ages due to the op, it was no wonder really that it died.

He shook his head sadly, disappointed that he couldn't speak longer with his lover and see if maybe he'd be able to drop by at some point to offer the younger man his much needed support.

He turned to go back inside, maybe the nurses would have charger he could borrow.

TBC...


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: Okay so I'm here again, I've had a bit of trouble with my writer, I have open office and the old version decided to not work anymore so I had to download the new version and it took me over ten hours (not kidding) to get it to load. But it was worth it because now I have a writer that's actually working properly (even if it is telling me Jethro isn't a real name...) Anyways, enough jabbering, here's the chapter :D **_

Gibbs broke his own record with the speed he got the case wrapped up. All the reports from everyone involved were soon collected in a neat pile on his desk waiting for him to review them. Of course DiNozzo's wasn't there so that in itself gave him enough cause to leave the reviewing until he got back from the leave Morrow had given both him and his lover.

He shook his head as he grabbed his things and made his way to his subordinate's desk. The fact that Tom knew about his and Tony's relationship didn't really come as a total surprise even if they had been trying to keep their relationship a secret. The director was more observant than what most gave him credit for and that was one of the reasons he was the head of the agency.

He was a bit pissed that the call from Tony the previous night had been cut off so abruptly and it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened, so he searched for the extra charger Tony always kept in one of his desk drawers and slipped it into his own pocket before making his way to the elevator.

Jethro pressed the button to take him to the floor that housed the morgue and leaned back against the wall of the elevator. It had taken him all night and now at six o'clock in the morning he was done and was ready to go after his lover. He'd managed to book a flight on a plane that would leave in a little over an hour which would leave him enough time to talk to Ducky before leaving. The older M.E. was always early to arrive and so Jethro had no doubt in his mind that the man would be in his office already.

Unfortunately Abby wouldn't be at work yet, so he'd just have to trust Duck to keep the Goth in the loop for now.

The ding of the elevator arriving on the right floor snapped the silver haired NCIS agent from his thoughts and he strode into autopsy as soon as the pressure doors slip open and he made his way towards the office of one of his oldest friends.

"Duck," He greeted as he saw the figure hunched over papers on the desk in the small office. He smiled slightly as he saw the other man jump, startled, before the reproachful voice reached his ears.

"One of these days you and your sneaking will surely be the death of me Jethro. Maybe I should help young Anthony attach a bell to you so we would have a proper warning before you try to cause us all to keel over with a heart attack."

Gibbs narrowed his eyes, not having had any idea about the part Tony had played with the small tinkling bell that had mysteriously made an appearance one day in his coat pocket. He spent a few seconds entertaining his various ideas on how to get back the younger man, but soon focused back to why he was down at the ME's office in the first place.

"Listen Duck, I'm in a bit of a hurry but just wanted to let you know Tony and I will be out of the office for a few weeks." Before the other man could interrupt Jethro went on with his explanation. "His parents had an accident and he flew there yesterday. Don't know yet more than that his dad got off with a broken arm but his mom's in bad shape."

"Dear heavens, are you planning to go to New York after him, I'm assuming that's where they are?" The statement was formed more to be a question so Jethro answered with a nod.

"Yeah, already got a flight booked, just wanted to let you know and ask if you'd tell Abby? I don't have the time to wait for her to show up." And both of them knew that calling the woman wouldn't be wise as even if Tony and she had gotten off with a rough start, they had grown closer a bit and it had been clear during the undercover op that the Goth was really worried about the young Italian.

"Actually you will find her in her lab. One of the other teams caught a rather high profile case and the director wanted Abigail to be the one to run the evidence. So I would rather imagine her to be busy going through the evidence, but I'm sure she can spare you a brief moment of her time. Please give Anthony my best and make sure the boy takes care of himself won't you Jethro? With the concussion from yesterday and all this I fear he might be in need of some TLC." There was a little hint of a twinkle in the other man's eyes as he said the last bit, but there was also unmistakable concern and compassion in there.

"I'll make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," That was as close to a promise as he was going to say, even if in his mind he was making promises dangerously close to the touchy feely territory.

"I shall take what I can get, after all beggars can't be choosers," The last bit went to deaf ears as Gibbs had already left the office.

The ME sighed as he took off his spectacles and used his napkin to clean them. "I do hope you aren't as tight lipped with your partner as you are with the rest of us, or I might just be fixing your head after another attack from one of your ex- lovers." With that the older gentleman went back to his work, hoping that everything would turn out alright after all the difficulty the two men had faced already during their short relationship.

The full force off the music blaring in the place hit Gibbs as soon as he stepped into Abby's lab. He moved to the stereo and turned the sound lower.

He cocked his head to the side when he didn't receive the usual complaint about 'messing' with the Goth's music, but he shook his head as he realized the woman was in the ballistics lab with earmuffs covering her ears. He turned the sound off completely as he figured there was no way Abby could hear it into the other room and especially wearing the protective gear.

But Abby being Abby it was, sensed that someone was messing with her babies, she looked up and smiled as she caught sight off the lead agent.

She quickly put down the gun she had been ready to test and made her way out of the ballistics and into the main lab where she wasted no time throwing herself at the man standing next to her stereo.

"Bossman! What can I do for you, Don't tell me you got a new case already?" The relationship between Abby and Gibbs had returned almost back to normal, and both were relieved about that, especially the woman who had been missing hugging her favorite NCIS agent.

"Well why aren't you saying anything? I know you're a man of a few words but-" Her words were cut off by Gibbs tapping her on the top of her head with a finger and then lifting the earmuffs from her head.

He raised an eyebrow and it didn't take long for Abby to catch onto the fact that the man had indeed been talking but she hadn't heard because she forgot her gear.

"Sorry bout that," she said with a grin that was pure innocence and caused one side of Gibbs' mouth to turn just the barest hint upwards but it soon fell as he got serious again.

"I'm in a hurry to get to the airport, but I wanted to keep you informed on things," He began before telling the Goth about the accident and about Tony's head injury and about their two weeks leave.

"Oh my god!" She exclaimed with wide eyes. "Why did no one tell me earlier that he was hurt?" She demanded but quickly went on. "You need to get there Gibbs, if I've learned anything about Tony it's that he'll be there for everyone and neglect himself! You need to go and make sure he takes care of himself too." Gibbs smiled at how much Abby's opinion about Tony and their relationship had changed and he gave a grateful kiss to her forehead.

"I will. I'll call later." He said as he turned to leave the lab.

"I'll hold you to that mister!" Abby shouted after his retreating back before turning to go back to her test of the weapon she'd left earlier, worry making her forget to turn her music back on.

TBC...


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Hiay folks! Thank you so much for all the reviews and thank you to the amazing Finlaure for the beta work on this chapter :) This is my last week of practical training and hopefully next week I'll have more time for writing than I have had the past few weeks. This week is going to be a busy one with wrapping up the practical and with my last shifts so the next chapter will most likely not be up before next week, but i'll try to make it a longer one. Hope you enjoy this chapter :D**_

_He was standing before the gates to a grave yard. He looked around and could just make out a group of people standing in the distance and the bells of the church could be heard as a cool breeze made his skin rise in Goosebumps. _

_He pulled the jacket closer to his torso and made his way closer to the people standing beside one of the graves. When he got close enough he frowned as he recognized his father and brother standing beside a priest who was saying prayers or something in Latin. His brother's wife and children were standing there too and all their faces showed deep sadness and some of them had tears running down their faces. _

"_Hey guys, what's going on?" He asked as he came to stand between his father and the priest but neither paid him any attention, their sole focus on the hole in the ground where you could barely see a casket lying at the bottom. _

_Looking from one person's face to the next it was clear none of the people had even noticed his presence which was a bit disconcerting. He even went as far as to try and slap his dad but there was still no reaction. _

"_Weird," He muttered to himself. Suddenly realizing he had no idea who's funeral he was crashing he moved to get a look at the headstone but before he could turn he heard someone approach the group and looked up to see Gibbs standing behind him all of a sudden. _

"_Boss! Thank god you're here!" He moved to hug the man, but the older agent moved back with a look of disgust on his face. _

"_How dare you DiNozzo!" The older man's voice boomed in the cemetery, "I'm disappointed in you. You just couldn't be a good son and give up being a gay whore?" the silver haired man pointed his finger towards the headstone, "And now your selfishness has killed your mother." _

_The words caused his head to snap up and he followed the pointed finger towards the ornament grave stone and he gasped as he read his mother's name on the cold stone. _

"_No," He whispered as he took a step back, but before he could go far he felt hands grasp his shoulders and he turned quickly to see his father standing right in front of him and just behind him were all the other's with a look of sad disappointment on their faces. _

"_Dad? Chris?" He questioned with slightly trembling voice. _

"_You're a failure Anthony, you're worthless and the only right place for you is in the gutter!" With those hateful words his father spat at him the older man took a hold of his arm while Gibbs appeared to take the other side and together the two men dragged him closer to the still open grave. _

"_Please let me go!" He struggled in their grips but to no avail, he looked down at the grave and saw that the lid of the coffin had opened to reveal the rotten face that once had been his mother, the skeletal jaws vibrating with her cackling laughter as he was violently thrown down the deep hole. _

Tony jerked awake and his eyes frantically sought out the peaceful looking figure lying on the hospital bed.

He took a deep breath to try and calm his racing heart. Wiping his hand down his face he couldn't hold back a wince as his head seemed to throb with every thundering beat of his heart. He squinted his eyes in an effort to focus on the face of his watch and he grunted in surprise when he found it to be almost seven o'clock in the morning.

Tony stretched his aching body from the cramped up position he had obviously spent the night in. The hospital chairs were a killer on your back when you were wide awake and sat properly in them, but falling asleep and slumping down in them was never a good idea, at least if you didn't want to mess up your back and neck in the process.

He visibly shuddered as the remnants of his dream pushed themselves into his mind. The whole thing had been so vivid and the words said to him by both his father and Gibbs kept replaying in his head and making him wonder where they had come from. He shook his head to clear it from the dream and stood up in an effort to dislodge the memory of it.

Tony felt the need to get out for a bit, but he didn't want to leave his mother alone as if him leaving her alone again would somehow jinx her recovery and make her condition worsen. Call him superstitious or anything you wanted but he wasn't willing to take that chance.

Luckily he didn't need to.

"Tonio, has there been any change?" Anthony greeted as he stepped into the room, his sharp brown eyes taking in the whole room with one sweep of his eyes and taking note of both the state of his beloved wife and youngest son. "Did you get any sleep?" He said in a gentle tone as he saw the darkness beneath the other man's eyes and also noted the paleness of his skin. He strode to his son and pulled him in a hug and the younger man mumbled his answer to his shoulder.

"No change dad," He didn't want to go into the sleeping thing yet, the dream still too fresh in his mind.

"So where's Chris?" Tony asked as he pulled back a bit, suppressing a wince when the lights hit his eyes again without the protection of his father's shoulder.

"Right here." Came a feminine voice from the doorway and Tony looked up to find both Chris and his wife Mary standing there. The woman shrugged off the arm her husband had wrapped around her waist and launched herself at Tony and caught him in a hug that would have made Abby proud.

"It's so good to see you." She whispered in his ear.

"Good to see you too. How's the little one?" He returned the hug tightly, but freed one hand to pat the baby bump.

"Getting bigger and bigger and the kid sure loves using my bladder as a pillow." She smiled at the small laugh her bad joke had gotten out of the man she was still hugging.

Letting go of Tony she ran a critical eye over him and made a small sound of displeasure.

"Now mister, you will go and get something to eat and get some fresh air cause you look like death warmed over."

Tony bit back the instinctual retort of 'yes mom' as that really wasn't an appropriate right then and instead saluted her with a sharp, "Yes ma'am," which earned him a glare and a slap to his shoulder.

He gave Mary a kiss on her cheek before turning to Chris and his dad.

"I'll run down to cafeteria and grab a bite to eat to appease the queen. I'll be back in a minute," He quickly fled the room in order to avoid being slapped for the queen barb.

He made his way to the entrance to the hospital to get some fresh air. It had been nice to see Mary again and joking a bit with her had made him fell marginally better, even if it hadn't been able to erase the fact that they had been standing in an ICU room with his unconscious mother not far away.

Tony stood outside the doors for a few minutes, just drinking in the fresh air with his eyes closed and trying to make it chase away all the remnants of his dream and the headache that hadn't really gone away since he'd gotten the concussion.

He opened his eyes and saw a bench by a small path that led towards the hospital from the park next to it so he made his way over and sat down, putting his head in his hands and just sitting there for a long while, trying not to think about anything.

Sometime later the was roused by the feeling of being watched, he looked around without raising his head so he wouldn't alert the one watching him about being caught out, but there was no one suspicious in the vicinity, but the feeling was still there. He shook his head slightly at his own paranoia and started to walk towards the park for a little walk before going back inside.

He'd walked for only a few meters when he heard subtle footsteps approaching him from behind. He took a deep breath and refused to let his weird delusions get the best of him, but still he could feel his heart rate picking up and he could almost hear blood rushing in his ears and the throbbing in his head that seemed to intensify with every heart beat.

Suddenly the footsteps got closer and then a hand latched onto his shoulder, spinning him around. Tony lashed out and one of his fists hit the guy's chest, but it didn't matter as soon he was pinned to a nearby tree with his hands held in an iron grip over his head.

TBC...


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: Yay, my practical training is finally over and not only did I survive it, so did my patients so I'd say it went pretty well. I can't tell you when the next chapter will be up because i'm having some real life issues, I'm hoping i'll get my life sorted this week so that maybe i can start sleeping again properly and will have the energy and time to actually write more. Anyways i hope you enjoy this chapter and i'm trying my hardest to get the next chapter written and to my beta as soon as i can. **_

It hadn't taken him much effort to find out in which hospital Tony's mother was, after all he had a number of contacts in high enough places to be useful in a situation like this. Well in all honesty Gibbs just called Ducky when he realized he had no idea where to go and asked the ME to work his Scottish charm to get the name of the hospital from one of his colleagues in New York.

The difficult thing was getting there.

New York was too big and chaotic for him to ever have fancied staying there for a longer period of time. So he had no idea where to find anything in the huge city and renting a car and driving with all the crazy people out there seemed like a suicide mission, even for him.

So he'd gotten a cab, which again proved to be more difficult than he would have thought and once he'd actually gotten into the taxi and the journey towards the hospital had started, he'd started to wonder perhaps renting a car might have been less suicidal after all, seeing as he at least knew the rules to abide while driving, he just ignored them a lot. The cab driver seemed unaware that there were such things as rules and traffic laws.

Once Gibbs stood on the sidewalk in front of the hospital and watched the cab speed away he couldn't help but smile since some of that speed might have been due to the ass ripping he had given the driver after his near miss with a school bus a half an mile before the hospital.

The smile faded as he took in the building standing only a short walkway away from him. The hospital looked old and gray with its worn walls and the whole place seemed to have an air of sadness over it.

But he didn't have long to wallow on the look of the place because he noticed the figure sitting on a bench not far from the main entrance. He recognized Tony almost immediately and though he was glad to see his young lover, his pose sitting there with his head in his hands was so dejected, it made his own heart ache.

He just stood there for a minute and made a visual assessment of the younger man, he took note of the slumped shoulders and the paleness of what little he could see of his face buried as they were in his hands.

Just as Gibbs started to walk closer to the other man, Tony got up and started to walk towards the park right next to the hospital. The older man went after him and with long strides gained on the other man. He called the Italian's name and when Tony didn't seem to hear him he picked up his pace and when he was in a touching range he reached a hand out to grab his shoulder.

The reaction he got was nothing like he expected.

The punch to his chest surprised him but he recovered quickly, in a few efficient movements he had the younger man trapped with his back to a tree and hands held over his head with both of his. Jethro winced as Tony's head collided with the trunk of the tree but the younger man didn't seem to notice.

"Tony?" Gibbs called as he tried to get the now struggling man's attention, his worry mounting when the man in his hold just kept fighting, the familiarity of the voice lost on the man who had closed his eyes at some point and refused to open them, pain lines around the tightly closed lids.

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs tried again with a bit more force this time and to his immense relief it seemed to do the trick.

"Boss?" The younger man whispered with a surprised voice, opening one eye to look at the man still pinning him to the trunk.

"Yeah it's me Tony." The older man assured as he loosened his hold on the hands he's held pressed to the tree. For the first time he looked around and realized that there were people watching them and some people looked ready to intervene. Doing what came almost naturally to him, Gibbs pulled out his badge and flashed it to the spectators.

"Federal Agent, move along people!" The bark did the trick and after a few more dubious glances the people started to scatter one by one.

Jethro turned his attention back to his lover who had buried his face in his neck and was shaking, due to what he didn't know.

"What's wrong Tony?" Jethro asked as he hugged the other man close and without breaking contact led Tony carefully to the bench Tony had been occupying earlier. He coaxed the younger man to sit down with him so that they were sitting side by side but the younger man was still in his lover's arms.

"Hurts," The younger man whispered and turned his head and squinted in order to really make out the older man's face in the bright sunlight, "You really here?"

Gibbs didn't know whether to be relieved that the younger man was talking or to be out of his mind with worry at the admission of pain. But unlike most men, Gibbs knew how to multitask and do both.

"Yeah I'm really here, where does it hurt?" He would have smiled at the way Tony turned his head back to his neck and seemed to try to burrow into him if it wasn't for his mounting concern for the younger man.

"m' Head," the younger man mumbled, the barrier Gibbs provided from the light helped to ease the ache, but since the adrenaline that had rushed his system had started to disappear he'd started to generally feel like crap. The headache was just the base that had all other kinds of negative things stacked on it, like exhaustion and nausea and all other kinds of not fun things.

Gibbs for his part didn't seem to mind providing DiNozzo protection from the too bright sunlight as he was too busy berating himself for forgetting the concussion the younger man had suffered just the day before and the new knock he took to his hard head. He carefully probed the back of Tony's head and when his fingers came back bloody he let out a curse.

"Jethro?" Tony questioned upon hearing the curse, he was feeling sleepy and getting some sleep now that Gibbs was there to take care of everything sounded like a wonderful idea.

"C'mon Tony, we need to get your head checked out again." Gibbs stood up slowly, pulling Tony to stand with him. He waited for a minute so the younger man could get his balance and started to lead them towards the entrance to the hospital, which proved to be a tad difficult with the way the Italian was still trying to keep his face buried in the older man's neck.

"Don't need a hospital," He protested when he heard the whoosh of the automatic doors and felt himself being guided inside.

"Tough luck seeing as I think you definitely needs one." Gibbs steered his protesting lover over to the ER where he used his badge and the fact that Tony had originally been injured in the line of duty to make sure they would be seen to as soon as possible.

It took less than five minutes for a nurse to come and show them into an examination cubicle. Soon after, a doctor came by to do the examination, frowning when Tony still wasn't willing to remove his face from its cozy hiding place.

"Agent DiNozzo, from what your _boss_ here told me, you have a concussion and I need to check your pupil reaction," Reluctantly Tony turned his face towards the doctor, mostly because Gibbs had played dirty and pinched his arm to make him do as he was told.

He rubbed the now sore arm and glared at his lover through narrowed eyes as the light still hurt his eyes, before turning his attention back to the young doctor.

"That's better," The doctor said as he did the necessary test and checked the stitches on the younger man's head.

"One of the stitches has ripped and I need to redo that, there's also a risk of hemorrhaging or swelling of the brain, especially as your symptoms have gotten worse so as soon as I'm done with the stitching I'm going to send you to a CT scan." Tony tried to groan out a protest but it was cut off by a glare from Gibbs.

"Fine," The Italian huffed. His head was again killing him after the nice doctor shone a penlight in his eyes and in reality he thought it might be better to be safe than sorry if there was something wrong.

"Good," The doctor said as he asked a nurse to bring the suture kit and other equipment he would need along with pain killers for his patient.

After ten minutes the sutures were cleaned and the one ripped one had been replaced and a new bandage placed on the wound. Tony had reluctantly taken the pills given to him and now he was lying on the gurney waiting with Gibbs to be taken to the scan.

"I need to tell Chris where I am." Tony said suddenly as he quickly sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the gurney, ignoring the dizziness the movement caused.

"Hey, you lie down and don't move!" Gibbs barked as he took hold of his lover's legs and swung them back on the bed and pushed him to lie down. "I'll go and see him while you're in the scan okay?"

Tony thought about it for a minute before nodding carefully. The painkillers he'd gotten were obviously the good stuff as his headache had dulled and he was feeling like his eyelids would soon shut on their own accord.

"Okay, thanks Jethro." Tony murmured as his eyes closed and he gave into the exhaustion he'd been feeling.

"Anytime," Gibbs whispered as he bent to place a kiss on his lover' brow. He saw the nurse come in and knew she was there to take the younger man to the scan.

"You gonna bring him to this cubicle afterwards?" He demanded to know.

"Yes, the scan will take around twenty minutes and after that we'll be back here." the young nurse said with a smile, not at all affected by the man's gruff tone.

Gibbs nodded.

"I need to take care of some things but I'll be back by the time you're done," He didn't' wait for a response but with one last look at his sleeping lover he made his way out of the cubicle and towards the information desk to find out where Tony's mother was, confident that he would find Chris there as well.

The older of the DiNozzo brothers were pacing the floor in front of his mother's ICU room. He was getting worried, it had been a long time since Tony left to go get something to eat and it wasn't like him to take so long when all he had previously wanted to do was to be there for their mother and father.

He stopped his pacing when two nurses walked by and gave him a weird look but as soon as they disappeared behind the corner, he started again.

Chris looked up when he heard the swoosh of the ICU doors and his eyes widened as he recognized his brother's boss/lover walking towards him. He quickly made his way over to the other man and shook the ex-marines hand. "Gibbs, it's good to see you, though I wish it was under better circumstances."

"Yeah me too."

Gibbs motioned with his head towards the direction the other man had come from. "How are they?"

Chris shook his head sadly. "No change," He said, assuming that Tony had given the details of their parent's condition. "Tony went to grab a bit to eat," The Italian continued but upon seeing the look on the older man's face he added.

"But you might know more about that than I do." There was a suspicious look in his eyes and Gibbs couldn't do anything but nod in agreement.

He told his lover's brother what had happened the previous day and about the concussion and not to mention the added bump the man had gotten outside. He finished by informing the man that his brother was in a CT scan at the moment and would be fine.

"Christ," Chris breathed as he ran a hand though his hair. "That idiot. Hasn't our family suffered enough without him doing stupid stuff like this," There was no anger in his tone, merely resignation and exasperation. He shook his head before focusing his attention back to the NCIS agent. "I'm glad you're here for him Gibbs."

"He does seem to need a constant supervision," Gibbs joked slightly, which caused a small grin appear on Chris' face.

"Amen to that."

The two men stood there for a moment before the younger of the two cleared his throat.

"I need to tell my wife and dad what's happening. I think it might be best if you wait here while I go tell them what happened and who you are." He held his breath as he waited for the agent's answer and he sighed in relief when the man just nodded his agreement, not making a move to question or argue the logic behind that.

Gibbs stood outside the room and watched via the big windows the conversation going on between Chris and his father. From the wildly flailing hands and rapid movement of both men, he figured things were getting more heated by the moment.

He looked at his clock and wished the DiNozzo men would hurry up their conversation so they could get on with it and he'd be able to get back to the ER before Tony got through the scan.

Just as he was about to check the time again the door to the room opened and the Senior DiNozzo came out with his arm in a sling and a furious expression on his face. Chris came out after him but the older DiNozzo didn't look back as he made his way to Gibbs.

"So, you're the man my son is involved with?" The words were said with forced calmness, but Gibbs wasn't fooled by it.

"Yes sir."

"And tell me Gibbs, that's your name isn't it?" At the other man's nod he continued. "So Gibbs, I've heard about you and I understand you're Anthony's boss. Now tell me do you show this kind of support to all your subordinates? Fly to other cities to be there for them should their wealthy parent kick the bucket."

The words were now dripping venom and Gibbs' own anger was rising. How dare this man talk to him like that and what really angered him was the fact that senior hadn't asked about his son's condition once.

"Mr. DiNozzo-"

"No. You listen to me. You can tell Anthony that if he wants to be there for his family, he'd better send his sugar daddy home and grow up. I can't deal with this right now and neither can my wife. He should have at least been a man enough to come here himself and not sent his _boss _to take the fall."

Chris had been silently watching the exchange as had his wife from the doorway, but at those words they both gasped and looked at Anthony as if he had grown horns.

By that time Gibbs had had enough and he stepped forwards so that he was completely invading the other man's personal space as he leaned closer and growled dangerously.

"Now you listen to me. I love Tony and I'm here for him as whatever he needs me to be. _He_ isn't here because he's downstairs getting a freaking brain scan to see if there's something more wrong with him than a serious concussion, but obviously you don't care about that! Seeing as you haven't even asked how he's doing tells me all I need to know. You go and take care of your _wife _and I'll take care of my agent who is also _my partner. _I'll Save you the trouble of actually caring for your _son._"

With that Gibbs turned on his heel to walk out of the ICU and go back to the ER to wait for Tony. Not looking back at the shocked people left standing behind.

TBC...


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Okay so this is my attempt at trying to get into Anthony DiNozzo senior's head. Please let me know if this makes no sense... :D**_

Anthony DiNozzo senior held his wife's hand clasped tightly in his good one, the anger he'd felt earlier had completely vanished the second he'd entered his wife's room, leaving him feeling drained and bad for the things he'd said. After the confrontation with Gibbs, Chris had gone after the NCIS agent to check on his brother and Mary had decided to stay back with Anthony and Celia.

He looked up wearily at the young woman sitting a few feet away from him, glaring daggers at him.

"I can't believe you actually said that." She hissed in an angry whisper, keeping her voice down in respect of the unconscious woman who was lying next to them on her sick bed.

Anthony grunted in frustration as he tried to run his hand over his face, but realizing that the cast and sling would make the effort impossible, especially since he wasn't about to let go of his wife right then.

Truth be told, Senior wasn't angry at Tony even if his words and actions gave that impression. He just didn't get it, didn't understand why his son would want to shack up with some old NCIS agent, _male _agent at that, when he could have his pick of the ladies.

"He's your son and you're ready to abandon him because you're too pigheaded to get over your disgust of him and his lifestyle."

The words made Anthony look up from where he had diverted his gaze to the opposite wall.

"I'm not disgusted by him!" He hissed vehemently. The words hitting him like the once Gibbs had uttered had done too. He was not disgusted and he cared for his son. He was a proud man and usually if he was feeling something he really didn't understand it came out as anger as that was a feeling he was well familiar with.

"Then why is this so bad? Why can't you except that Gibbs and Tony are together and they love each other?"

At the man's dubious look Mary continued.

"Why is it so hard to believe that? Why can't you support him when he needs you to? Is this really something you want to break your family over?" She was struggling to contain her frustration at the older man's attitude and what she thought of as plain stupidity.

Anthony shook his head to show that; no, it was not what he wanted. He loved Tony, the boy was his youngest child and there was nothing he wouldn't do to keep him safe. He and his wife didn't approve of Tony seeing men, but not for the reasons all seemed to think. He didn't approve of the two men's relationship because-

He shook his head again slightly and left the thought unfinished, somehow admitting that would make him seem silly and over protective and like a foolish old man and he didn't want that.

But Mary wasn't satisfied with the non verbal answer and pressed on.

"Why not? That's what you're doing isn't it? Driving him away just because you hate what he is!"

"Damn it I don't hate him I love him! He's my son and I want him to be safe. Even if it means protecting him from all the-" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and let it out slowly before locking anguished eyes to the bemused ones of his daughter in law. His voice as he spoke was whispered and had so much pain in it that it made Mary's eyes soften immediately.

"That man is going to end up hurting my Tonio like all other men before him. I don't want him to hurt any more. I want him to find a good girl to settle down with and to be happy."

The reason both Anthony and Celia had been so eager to have Tony change his mind about liking men was because even if they were shocked by the revelation that their son was into men, in reality they had both been aware about Tony's 'experimenting' when he was younger. There had been one particular guy their son had been seeing and they found out about it by accident when the two young men were at the mansion having a rather loud argument which ended in the other man throwing it into Tony's face that he had cheated on him with someone else and calling the youngest DiNozzo names not proper to repeat.

After that Tony hadn't eaten well for a long time and had actually gotten sick after not taking care of himself. But he didn't show any sign of going after men after that which had relieved both of his parents. The guy who's name Anthony later found out and made sure the guy got what he deserved, namely to be kicked out of the schools honor student list for behaviour unbecoming and some other little things not really enough to seriously hinder the guy's life, just to make it a bit more difficult.

Finding out about Tony's continuing interest in guy's had made the old worry for their son surface and both parents were ready to do whatever it took to protect him. Even if it meant making the young man choose between his family and the man he was seeing, by making it clear they didn't approve of the relationship.

"You're such a fool!" Mary said in an exasperated tone.

"Do you have any idea how much you hurt him by all of this? Nothing Gibbs could do would ever measure up with being abandoned by his parents. And if he does end up getting hurt he needs you to be there for him."

Anthony looked away with shame written all over his face. He never thought of it like that. He had been so busy trying to make Tony see he would be better off as a completely straight man that he neglected to think how much _he_ was hurting the young man.

"Could you stay with her for a moment?" Anthony asked the pregnant woman who nodded his understanding. The man gave his wife a kiss on the cheek and whispered in her ear.

"I'm going to make this right so you can wake up and have all your family here to support you. I love you."

He then came to stand in front of Mary and placed a kiss on her head.

"Chris is a very lucky man to have you by his side."

"O, believe me I know," She said with a smirk before giving him an encouraging nod and a small nudge towards the door.

With that he left the room and went in search for his youngest son. He still didn't approve of the relationship between Gibbs and Tony, mainly because he had done some research on the man when he found out he had hired Tony, and the failed marriages and bastard reputation weren't exactly a ringing endorsement for his relationship skills.

Not to mention that he was Tony's boss and in a position to ruin the younger man's career if he so chose or at least make his life difficult in various ways. The fact that he had been quick to defend his agent did speak for him though.

He walked confidently down the hall and was determined to make sure at least he himself wouldn't cause any more grief for his son, no matter what happened with the two NCIS agent's relationship.

TBC...


	14. Chapter 14

"Gibbs wait up!" Chris called after the rapidly retreating back.

He'd gone after the NCIS agent as soon as he got over his shock at the confrontation between Gibbs and Anthony. He never could have predicted the hurtful words flowing out of his father's mouth but now wasn't the time to dwell on that, now he needed to see his brother and see what Gibbs was planning to do. He just hoped the older man wasn't planning on taking Tony and getting as far away from New York as possible.

"Gibbs I'm sorry-" He started as he reached the other man and slowed down to walk side by side with him, but his apology didn't get the chance to be completed.

"You can't control the way your father feels about me and Tony being together and I don't want you groveling on his behalf when it's not you who's done something wrong." Gibbs was pissed to say the least but he didn't want to take it out on Chris who had been nothing but supportive of him and Tony from the beginning, so he kept his tone mild and didn't lash out at the younger man walking by his side.

They walked in silence after that with Jethro leading the way. The walk helped Gibbs' anger to dull down a bit before they reached Tony's room for the last thing the older NCIS agent wanted to do was take his frustration and anger out on his lover. The walk also helped him to get rid of the urge to hit someone, preferably the man he'd left behind a few minutes earlier. The only thing keeping him from punching the man as he said those things about his own son was said son. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Tony wouldn't have thanked him for decking his father, so Gibbs restrained his urges.

Barely.

The men walked into the ER and suddenly Gibbs turned and rounded on Chris, standing almost nose to nose with the other man.

"If you think I shouldn't tell Tony what happened with his dad you might as well stay out of there. I've never lied to him and this is not the time to start."

They locked eyes and Chris saw the determination in the icy blue eyes. He could understand why Gibbs would think he'd object to telling Tony, but he understood also the reasons why the younger man should know.

He nodded his head in agreement but just so there would be no mistaking he decided to voice his thoughts.

"I agree. As much as I see him as the little kid who needs to be taken care of and protected, he's a grown man who would only be hurt if he found out we held this from him."

The older man's posture relaxed and his eyes warmed immediately. Chris started as he realized that the man had really been afraid, _scared_ even of his answer and that just gave the Italian a view of the full scope of how much Gibbs really cared about Tony. If he didn't he wouldn't have been afraid of causing the added pain for Tony of not having his older brother there to support him.

If only their dad could see that as well.

Chris shook his head sadly at the thought and hurried to catch up with Gibbs who had turned and was entering one of the cubicles Chris was sure must be the one housing his brother.

But upon entering the small area both men noticed the lack of the young man they were looking for. Before Chris could ask where he was, a nurse appeared, obviously having seen them enter, and addressed Gibbs.

"Agent Gibbs, Doctor Marius wanted me to inform you about a change in plans as soon as you arrived. The scan went well, but the Doctor has decided to admit agent DiNozzo and he's been taken to a private room. If you'd like I can show you the way."

Chris and Gibbs exchanged worried looks at the fact that the young man was in a bad enough condition to be admitted.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he being admitted?" Gibbs wanted to know before they were led anywhere.

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you anything more, its hospital policy that as nurse I have no authorization to give you any information concerning the situation apart from what I have already told you before a doctor has been in to update you." The face she pulled as she said that told both men what she thought about that restriction.

"If I could though I might tell you that it's most likely just a precaution and that your agent will be fine." The words were said casually over her shoulder as she moved to lead the men to the room in the neurological ward where Tony had been taken.

The two men following her shared a smile at the piece of information the nurse dropped them. They followed the woman out of the ER and down two long corridors and up a floor before they reached the correct floor and finally were standing in front of the room that was assigned for Tony.

"Here we are gentlemen. I'm gonna head down back to my domain. Tell your agent I hope he feels better soon." With those parting words she turned on her heel and made her way back the way they had come from.

Gibbs allowed a small smirk surface as he watched the woman go before he turned to enter the room they had been pointed to.

This time when the two men entered the room expecting to find Tony, they weren't disappointed. The young man was lying down on a different hospital bed from what he'd been on in the ER, looking peaceful as he slept. The painkillers they were giving him via the IV line that had appeared to the back of his left hand were working well.

Gibbs made his way to the side of the bed and lowered the railing on the bed so he could perch on the side of the mattress and took a hold of his lover's right hand. He didn't care Chris was in the room as he bent down to press his lips against the young man's forehead.

The action though seemed to have been enough to rouse the sleeping man as his eyelids began fluttering and Jethro cursed himself silently as he hadn't meant to wake the young man up.

"Jeth?" Tony mumbled as he opened his eyes to slits before closing them again and trying to open them again, this time managing to get them opened all the way.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Jethro whispered to the young man, mindful of the headache he'd had earlier.

"Better, doesn't hurt as much." He arched his bad a bit as he answered before settling down again with a small sigh as his back muscled loosened a bit.

"Chris?" He asked the older man not having noticed his brother standing on his other side from where Gibbs sat on the bed.

"Right here Tonio. Gotta say though this was not where I expect to find you after telling you to get something to eat."

Tony turned his head to regard the other man and gave a small smile which turned to a grimace as he moved the hand with the IV attached to it.

"Yeah well have to keep you on your toes don't I?"

"Oh you keep me on my toes all right, any more and people will mistake me for a ballerina."

"Funny man. So, what did I miss?" Tony had his eyes closed so he didn't see the look that passed between the other two, but before anyone could say anything more, there was a knock on the door before the doctor came in.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Marius and will be your doctor during your stay on this ward. " After Chris and Gibbs introduced themselves the doctor continued, "Agent DiNozzo I have the results of your scan and there doesn't seem to be anything to explain the sudden worsening of the symptoms from the concussion you suffered. But to be on the safe side we're admitting you for today and tonight and if everything checks out in the morning you're free to go. There were some signs that you were getting a bit dehydrated which might explain some of the symptoms so we're giving you some saline to help with that and seeing as you haven't eaten anything in a while, a nurse will be by soon to get you something to eat."

The doctor looked up from the chart he had been studying to see the stern look Agent Gibbs was giving his agent and the sheepish smile he got in return.

"Is there anything you'd like to know or ask?" Doctor Marius asked the men.

"Yeah, is it really necessary for me to stay here? I feel fine now."

"DiNozzo." Gibbs said sternly looking at his lover who was giving him his best puppy dog look. "Oh no you don't, you'll stay here as long as the good doctor feels necessary. If he says you spend the night here, then you'll spend the night."

"But Giiiiibs." Tony whined in an attempt to sway the other man, he flashed him an innocent look complete with a sweet grin, but he was quickly rebuffed.

"No."

Chris held back snicker as he watched his brother start pouting and he saw the doctor fighting back a grin as well.

"Well seeing as you seem to have everything under control I'm going to go check on my other patients. A nurse will be by soon with the tray and if you need any pain medication for the headache don't hesitate to press the call button."

He nodded to the occupants of the room and headed out, leaving the three men alone.

"Hey Chris, how're mom and dad doing?" Tony asked as he again turned to his brother, having almost forgotten about their parents he wanted to get an update on how they were.

The look on Chris' face told him something was up and as he turned to look at his lover, he noticed that Gibbs had the same expression on his face and he sighed dramatically as he pulled himself into a more sitting position and looked from one man to another.

"So, what aren't you two telling me?"

TBC...

_**A/N: So most likely there will be only one or two chapters to go! Hope you enjoyed this one :) **_


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N: Okay so there will be one more chapter after this one and there might be an epilogue after that, the bad news is that I don't know when the next chap will be up since I'm drowning in work right now. I'll try to get chapter 16 written this weekend so I can send it to my beta for her to work on, so lets hope it'll be ready at the end of next week... Though again I'm not promising anything more than that it will be up sooner or later... Anyways i hope you enjoy and reviews are always greatly appreciated :D**_

"Tony," Gibbs started with an even tone, he'd told Chris he would tell his young lover what transpired with Anthony senior. Now that he saw the younger man and noticed the pain he was trying to hide he wasn't sure he should get into it right then and there.

"You still got a headache?" He said instead and moved so that he was sitting on the bed beside Tony's head with his back against the head of the bed. It was a tight fit and half of his butt was hanging over the edge but he didn't mind as he started running his hand through the young man's hair in a soothing patterns. He was mindful of the bandage on the back of his head where the doctor had applied a fresh bandage after fixing the stitches.

Tony closed his eyes for a second, just enjoying the feel of the fingers massaging his aching head, he snuggled closer to the man perched on the bed and rubbed his face against one lean thigh.

"Um... Maybe a bit, but you still haven't told me what you two are trying to keep from me." Tony finally answered with an almost purr in his voice.

Chris opened his mouth to comment when Tony's eyes sprung open and he sat up quickly grabbing his head as the movement made everything spin.

"They're okay aren't they? You'd tell me if something bad had happened right?" There was such desperation in his eyes that it rendered both of the other men momentarily speechless. They were shocked by the leap Tony's mind had taken, but they really shouldn't have been so surprised.

"There's nothing else wrong with either of them Tony, just relax." Chris said as he laid a hand on his brother's shoulder and looked him in the eyes to make sure Tony understood what he was saying.

"Mom's still doing okay?" He sought Chris's eyes for any sign of misdirection but found none.

"She's the same as before you left the room."

Tony relaxed at the confirmation. He allowed Gibbs, who had moved to sit more firmly on the bed, to pull him back and so that his head rested on the older man's shoulder. Jethro resumed his stroking of the dark hair.

"So why won't you tell me what you're not saying?" He was extremely frustrated by the continued ignoring of his question. But the hand in his hair felt too good to do anything to dislodge it, so he stayed propped up against his boss and let the frustration color his words.

Gibbs sighed as he tried to figure out if he should give the young man a word by word description of the confrontation or just give him a gist of things and hope it satisfies the inquiring young man. It would turned out he didn't have to say anything.

Anthony DiNozzo had been standing by the door for a while. He had listened just outside to the doctor telling them what was going on with Tony and he felt a relief in knowing there was nothing more seriously wrong with his son. He also heard Gibbs make sure the stubborn young man would stay in the hospital and follow the doctor's instructions.

The protective tone in the ex-marines voice gave him pause and he almost didn't notice the doctor walk past him and give him a raised eyebrow before continuing on his way. That was one more point in the other man's favor. It seemed that maybe Tony's family was not the only ones looking out for him and taking care of him. He peeked in through the half open doorway and noticed the almost tender way this Gibbs was taking care of the young man lying on the bed. When Tony got agitated, as he thought something else had happened to his parents, Jethro was there keeping a hand on Tony's shoulder and then when he was calmed, pulling him to rest against him.

He heard Tony's slightly annoyed voice demand to know what the two men weren't telling him and knowing what made both his older son and Gibbs so hesitant, he decided that to be his cue to enter.

"Maybe I can answer that." He said as he made his way to stand at the foot of his son's bed while Chris stood to one side and Gibbs sat on the bed on the other.

As soon as the words were out of his mouth he saw every eye on the room turn to his direction. The look of panic on Tony's face, as he struggled to create some distance between himself and Gibbs, made the old man feel like the biggest bastard in the world.

He also noticed that Gibbs had not only not let go of his son but on the contrary, pulled him closer and moved so that he was slightly in front of the man. This was a protective move that could not be mistaken for anything else. Anthony raised his eyebrow slightly and mentally counted one more point in Gibbs' favor.

He raised his hand to stall the angry words he could see were going to start coming out of the man's mouth any second and to stall Tony's almost frantic movements.

"Tonio," Now that he opened his mouth he wasn't really sure what to say. He sighed heavily and running a tired hand over his face, nodding gratefully as Chris brought a chair closer and placed it at the foot of the bed so he could take a seat.

Sinking into the chair Anthony decided to grab the bull by the horns. Judging by the distrustful look in Gibbs' eyes and weary one on Chris', he knew it was the only way to start.

"I think I owe an apology to both you and your-" He struggled to come up with a word to describe what the two man shared and decided to settle on the word Gibbs had used himself, "Your partner."

Tony's mouth dropped open at the statement but Anthony didn't give him a chance to say anything, he knew he needed to get all of it out before he lost his nerve.

"Gibbs came to see me just now and I said some bad things to him about your relationship and about you." He again took a deep breath and forced himself to not look down or move his focus from the two men on the bed.

"I'm also sorry for the way your mother and I have been handling this since you told us about your orientation. We were not as oblivious to your past experiments with other men, but we both thought you'd moved past it after that disastrous attempt with the cheating ass hole when you were younger." At this point he noticed that now was Tony's mouth not only open still, but he wore a mortified expression and he had paled considerably.

"I'm not trying to hurt you by telling you this son. I just want you to understand. We saw how much that individual had hurt you and we never wanted you to go through that again." He shook his head at their foolishness. "We thought if you'd give up men, it wouldn't happen again and you'd find a nice girl to settle down with and be happy."

"So this was all a weird attempt to protect me from my own stupidity in making bad relationship choices? You thought I'd give up men if you and mom forced me to choose between that and our family?" There was indignation in his youngest son's tone and Anthony couldn't blame him.

He looked from his son to Gibbs' face and was surprised to find a glimmer of grudging understanding in those blue eyes, even if the anger and suspicion were still at the front.

"I know it was the wrong way to go about it. But when we found out you hadn't stopped seeing men even though we thought so, we reacted badly, both of us remembering the hurt you were put through."

There was silence in the room for a while as everyone tried to make sense of everything that had been said.

"I can understand some of the reasons behind your behavior, but I will never tolerate anyone talking about Tony the way you did or hurting him like that." Gibbs said, he wasn't ready to forgive the man yet, but he was willing to give him the benefit of a doubt, for Tony's sake.

"I will never do anything to hurt my sons again. And if you ever hurt him, God help me I will kick your ass. No Marine skill is a match to an angry father with Italian temper."

Gibbs and Anthony locked eyes. Jethro realized with that statement that the man had done a check on him as he knew about his Marine background, but oddly he didn't find that thought angering. As a matter of fact it made him see that even if he and his son had not been speaking for a while, the caring was still there as the man had taken the time to get a background check on the man watching his son's six.

The NCIS agent gave a small nod which was returned by the older Italian.

Tony and Chris just looked between the two men and wondered what they had missed in all of this. Tony more so than his brother.

"Soo..." Tony's voice brought the attention to him. "What does this mean exactly?"

Anthony smiled at the slightly bewildered look on his son's face "Well son, this means that you will stay here and rest with Gibbs making sure you follow doctor's orders, while I go back to make sure your mother will be fine."

Anthony gave a meaningful look to the man still holding his son. He then got up and first went to Chris and gave him a one armed hug, which his son eagerly returned; glad to see that things were getting better. Then the older man went to his younger son and leaned to press his lips to his forehead and whispered words of love to him.

"Love you too dad." Anthony smiled as he extended his good hand to Gibbs, who took it in a firm handshake. "Take care of my son for me Agent Gibbs while I take care of my wife." There was a small twinkle in his eyes as he echoed Gibbs earlier parting words.

"Will do."

Anthony nodded once and headed out of the room, making his way back to his wife's side. He had a small smile on his lips the whole walk as he thought how things were looking better already. Now they just needed to wait for Celia to wake up and get well so both parents could keep an eye on this new partner of Tony's.

In the room he just left, Tony looked bewildered as he altered looking at his smiling brother and thoughtful looking lover. He moved his eyes to stare at the closed door and with a huff of frustration he settled to lie on his back with his head resting on the pillow next to his partner's hip. He still felt he was missing something and he turned his eyes to look at the ceiling and with a voice laced with annoyance asked.

"What the hell just happened?"

TBC...


	16. Chapter 16

The next morning Tony was released as there were no further complications with the concussion and no need for him to be admitted for a longer period of time. The fluids they had pumped into him had made him feel a lot better and the headache had diminished to a dull ache that was more of a minor discomfort than real pain.

The fluids however did nothing to the confusion over the events of the previous day Tony was still feeling. He'd tried in vain to get his partner and his brother to elaborate the meaning of the things his dad has said as he was sure there was stuff left unsaid, but neither man had said anything. Jethro had assured him there was no hidden agenda, and in the end the younger man had let it go, certain that he could get the whole story out of his lover later if there was something he hadn't been told yet.

After the younger DiNozzo sibling had been released both Tony and Gibbs made their way to Celia's room where they knew that Anthony had been up all night keeping silent vigil at her bedside.

Upon entering the room where Tony was expecting to see his mother lying unconscious on the bed with his father sitting beside her, he was shocked to see an empty room with no one there and even the bed had been removed.

"Where- No." He whispered as he turned to look at Jethro who had been following just a step behind him and was now standing beside him where the bed should have been.

He felt his legs grow weak as his mind supplied him with images of his beloved mother lying in a coffin like in the dream he had the other night. He grew unaware of his surroundings as he was trapped in a horror of the thought of his mother being dead.

It felt like ages later, even if in reality it was less than a minute, when he realized someone was talking to him and he felt a hand on his shoulder and he blinked his eyes. He looked up and saw his father crouching in front of him and then he realized he was lying against a sturdy chest, he turned his head and came face to face with a very worried Gibbs.

"Tony you with me?" His partner whispered in his ear, but he didn't answer as he took in the fact that somehow he had ended up sitting on the floor in the hospital room with his back against Gibbs' chest and his father alternating with shaking his shoulder and running a hand through his hair.

"What happened?" Tony finally asked as he licked his dry lips and looked as his father who heaved a sigh of relief which he knew Gibbs had done as well, since he felt the movement of the other man's chest behind him.

"You scared the crap out of us that's what happened. I came to tell you that your mother was taken to a control scan when I saw you coming in, but I found you on the floor nearly passed out!" Anthony took in the way Tony closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath and seemed to relax against the former marine behind him. "Gibbs, are you sure we shouldn't get a doctor to take a look at him? I mean was he really ready to be released?"

Tony shook his head before the other man could answer, "She's in a scan? Not dead?" He opened his eyes in time to see the horrified look on his father's face and he felt the tightening of the arms holding him from behind as he sought confirmation.

"God no Tonio! I'm so sorry you thought that, I should have let you know about the scan as soon as I found out but I didn't think they would release you before noon." The sincerity in his eyes convinced Tony and he nodded his head and took a deep breath.

"Sorry about that," Tony said as he looked over his shoulder at the man still supporting him from behind, before pushing himself to his feet, grateful for the continuing support from his lover.

"You okay now Tony?" Gibbs asked as he watched his lover close his eyes and shake his head as if to clear it from unwanted thoughts or images.

"Fine," Tony said distractedly as he opened his eyes and looked at the two men with a small smile on his lips to reassure them that he was indeed fine.

But neither Gibbs nor Anthony were that easily mollified and both shot him a dubious look before making a silent promise to themselves to keep an eye on the young man.

The three men turned towards the door when they hear someone opening it and the stepped aside when the orderly rolled in the bed that held the woman they were all there for. They watched in silence as the young man hooked all the monitors back and made sure the IV line was straight and there was nothing amiss with his patient. He turned to Anthony who he'd seen when he came to take the woman to the scan and he smiled reassuringly.

"The doctor will be by as soon as he gets the final results from the scan."

"Thank you," Anthony said and the men watched as the orderly nodded before making one more visual scan of the bed and all the equipment, and taking his leave when he saw that everything was as it should be.

Tony had been staring at his mother from the moment she was wheeled into the room, he noticed the absence of the ventilator and his heart did a small dance of joy as he realized that she had been switched to an oxygen mask which meant that she was breathing on her own. Once the orderly left, he moved to take her hand in his and placed a kiss to her cheek.

"I'm glad you're still here mom and that you're getting better." The words where whispered in a slightly shaking voice but both Gibbs and Anthony heard them and smiled sadly at the idea of what the young man must have felt when he saw the empty room and drew the horrifying conclusion that his mother must have passed on.

The men waited in silence and it didn't take long before Celia's doctor made his appearance and made his way over to Anthony and shook his hand.

"Mr. DiNozzo, I have the results of your wife's scan." He glanced at Gibbs and Tony before focusing back to the man in front of him who shook his head at his own lack of manners.

"This is my youngest son Anthony and his boss Agent Gibbs. They can be here to listen to the results."

The doctor nodded his head and proceeded to fill them in on the findings of the scan.

"As you can see we were able to take Mrs. DiNozzo off the ventilator and instead put her on an oxygen mask to supply her with extra oxygen. As you know there was some bleeding in your wife's brain that caused some swelling which in turn caused the pressure inside her skull to rise. The scan today showed that the swelling has gone down a bit and there is no reason to assume it won't continue to go down on its own. The bleeding was on the right side of her brain and unfortunately there does seem to be a small amount of damage to that area that was caused by the blood clotting and blocking a small vein from supplying blood to a certain part of the brain. We won't know the extent of the damage or if it even affects her functions at all before she wakes up. The best case scenario is that there are no effects at all. The worst case is such a long shot seeing as the damage was so small, that I'd like to cross that bridge only if we come to that."

Anthony ran his hand through his hair and looked at the doctor. "So there's no need for surgery?"

The doctor shook his head, "At this point no, the damage has already been done and if we go in now to remove the dried blood, we risk doing more damage than good."

"When will she wake up?" Tony asked from his position next to his mother and Gibbs squeezed his shoulder at the hopeful tone he heard in his lover's voice.

"There's no way to tell. It can be hours or days. I'm certainly hoping she'll wake up as soon as possible, as there really is no reason she shouldn't wake up, but the brain is a tricky organ and I don't want to give you false hope so I do have to remind you there are no guarantees."

The men nodded and with final words between the doctor and Anthony, the white coated man left the room to tend to his other patients.

"She will wake up." Tony said with a confidence he didn't really feel.

"Tony-" Gibbs started with an even tone but was cut off by his lover.

"No, she will wake up, and she will be fine." There was such finality in that statement that Jethro felt it best to leave it at that.

Antony who had been processing the doctor's words nodded his head as he agreed with his son's words that his beloved wife would wake up.

"She will wake up, and the rest we will deal with together."

The week following the scan was exhausting to all the DiNozzo men as well as Gibbs. He did his best to make sure his partner rested and made sure he remembered to get his stitches removed from the back of his head when the wound had healed enough.

Anthony, Chris and Tony too turns keeping watch over the woman who meant to much to each of them. Sometimes Mary took a turn too when she wasn't with the kids or resting at home. Her husband was adamant the pregnant woman rested enough and didn't spent too much time in the hospital worrying about her mother in law.

During the week Celia's condition had improved enough that the unconscious woman had been moved to a step down ward and the oxygen mask had been replaced by a nasal cannula.

It was early morning and Anthony had spent the night with his wife with Tony having just arrived to make sure the older man got some rest while he was there with his mother when there was a change in her condition.

Anthony who was holding her hand felt a small twitch in the hand he held and as it wasn't the first time it had happened he controlled his reactions and was just about to let go of her hand when she squeezed his fingers.

"Anthony, get the doctor!" He said to his son in an urgent tone before focusing his attention back at his wife.

"Celia love can you hear me?"

Tony just stood there for a second but as he saw his mother's eyes start to flutter he immediately went in search of a doctor.

It didn't take long before a doctor was in Celia's room doing a check up with Anthony by her side. Tony being 'only' her son wasn't allowed to be present during the examination. He leaned against the wall beside the door to her mother's room waiting for the verdict from the doctor and a chance to go in and see his mother. He took the opportunity to call Chris who promised to be there in an half an hour.

"Tony why are you standing out here?" Jethro asked as he approached his partner who he'd sent up as he went to get a cup of coffee from the hospital cafeteria.

"The doctor is in there. She was waking up" There was a small smile on Tony's face as it suddenly seemed to hit him and he hugged his lover. "She's waking up!"

"That's great Tony," Gibbs said and without caring who saw it, he leaned to kiss Tony gently on the lips.

The two men stayed glued together for a few minutes before pulling apart, but the men still held their hands together as they leaned side by side against the wall.

It took half an hour before the doctor motioned for the three people in the hall to come in, as Chris had arrived just a few minutes earlier.

Tony was the first to enter the room and he was disappointed to see that his mother had her eyes closed and seemed to be in the same condition as before he left the room.

"She's just sleeping this time," Anthony said from where he was standing beside his wife as if he had read his son's mind.

"Yes Mrs. DiNozzo indeed came out of the coma and we ran some test to ascertain if the damage we found in her brain was affecting any of her functions. Right now there seems to be some weakness to her left arm, hand and leg as well as some un-coordination in her movements of those limbs. We'll know more when the physiotherapist has a chance to do a more extensive set of tests with her. All in all She will be fine, she will need some physical therapy, and she will need to be monitored closely for the next few days as we start giving her liquid foods and carefully progress to solids, but I see no reason why she couldn't be released after a week as long as you make sure she gets the therapy she needs, either by getting a physiotherapist to come to your home or arranging appointments for her at a rehabilitation clinic. "

Anthony shook the doctor's hand and thanked him for everything he'd done before turning his attention to his son's, which the doctor took as the dismissal it was meant as.

"She was asking about the two of you when she was awake." He said to his two sons before concentrating his attention to his wife who was again showing signs of waking up.

"Mom?" Tony whispered as he took a step closer to the bed with Gibbs standing behind him and Chris coming to stand next to his brother.

They watched as Celia opened her eyes and looked at both of her sons in turn and after licking her dry lips opened her mouth. "Tonio? Chris?" She whispered in a small voice before clearing her throat.

"You want some water mom?" Tony offered as he picked up the cup on the bedside table that had a cap with a small nook on it, which he placed between his mother's lips who gratefully took a few mouthfuls of water.

"Never thought I'd have to learn to drink from a Sippy cup again," Celia said with a small smile which caused everyone in the room to chuckle quietly and breathe a sigh of relief as they saw that that Celia was still herself and hadn't lost her sense of humor.

"I love you mom." Tony said as he leaned down to press a kiss to his mother's cheek, while Chris said the same words while kissing her hand.

"I love both of you too, and Antonio too," She smiled at her husband who smiled back; pleased to hear her say his name again after fearing he might never hear that again.

Gibbs watched the family moment and felt like he was intruding on a private moment so he moved to let the family have a moment alone, but his movement alerted Celia of his presence as she hadn't noticed him before.

"I'm sorry but I'm not sure we've met." Celia said in a slightly hoarse voice.

"No ma'am we haven't. I'm Special agent Gibbs; I'm Tony's boss and friend." He left it at that, not wanting to upset the woman so soon after her waking up from a coma.

Celia narrowed her eyes slightly and with the all seeing eyes of a mother took in the man and the way he stood holding a protective hand on his son's back, she motioned for her husband to raise the head of the bed so she was sitting up more.

"You know it is uncanny how a person can be in a coma, but still hear what goes on around them." She turned her eyes from Gibbs to Tony and reached with a shaking hand towards her youngest son who quickly took the hand and gave the back of it a small kiss.

"I'm so sorry Tonio for pushing you away. I remember thinking how I could never forgive myself I hadn't gotten the chance to tell you how much I love you even though me and your father may not have acted like that for a while now."

"Mom-" Tony tried to stop her as he could hear the strain of talking so much on her voice, but she just ignored him, wanting to say what she had to say.

"No, I need to tell you this. I never want to lose you and I want you to know that no matter who you love and want to be with, I will always love you. And You could have done worse for yourself." The last part was said with a meaningful look sent in Gibbs' direction which caused the former marine's back to straighten and his hand at the small of Tony's back to move so it was wrapped around his waist as he took a step close to his partner.

Anthony looked shocked by the fact that his wife seemed to know the two men were an item, but then he shook his head. Maybe it was just one of those things women could sense. Call it woman's intuition or mother's instinct but whatever it was, it was uncanny.

Tony just looked at his mother with wide eyes as Chris smiled wickedly at his brother's shocked look. Celia also had a smile but it was ruined by a yawn.

"You need some rest mom." Chris said as he saw the yawn.

"In a minute. Where are Mary and the grand kids?"

"At home, I thought I'd bring them by tomorrow." Celia nodded her head in agreement.

"That's good; I want to see my little sweethearts." She then turned her attention back to Gibbs.

"Are you taking good care of my son Agent Gibbs?" She asked causing Tony to blush slightly at the third degree his mother was giving Gibbs, and to think she had just woken up from being in a coma for over a week!

"I'd like to think so ma'am."

"You planning on hurting him?" Celia ignored her son's attempts at getting her to rest and also ignored the amused looks on both her husband's and Chris's faces.

"I would never intentionally hurt him." Celia nodded at the answer and closed her eyes as she felt herself growing more tired and decided to take a nap, but before she nodded off she spoke in a surprisingly clear voice and no one had any difficulties deciphering who she was speaking to.

"And if you hurt my baby I will make sure you'll get to be the one waking from a coma after I'm done with you."

Anthony and Chris both chuckled at the statement which was so like Celia even if she wasn't a violent person, but for her sons she would do anything. And it was also a sign of how even if her body had a long way to go before she would be her old self, her mind was still intact and there was nothing wrong with her.

Tony smiled at his mother. He was a bit horrified by the threat and that his mother would say something like that. But he was just so happy knowing that he had his whole family back and Jethro by his side that he couldn't feel anything but joy.

He looked at Jethro and smiled at his partner who brushed a gentle kiss over his temple.

"Tony, why don't you go back to the house and get some more rest and when you come back bring some of your mother's things with you." Anthony said to his youngest son, who like the rest of them, had gotten very little sleep during the whole week. He knew he himself wouldn't be leaving for a while yet and wanted at least one of them well rested. "Chris you can go and be with Mary and the kids and come back tomorrow with them."

Tony and Chris both nodded their heads, Chris knew he needed to go home and tell his wife of the most recent development. Tony for his part felt like he could finally sleep knowing that his mother would be fine and he could feel the exhaustion start to weigh on him. He gave his mom and dad both a kiss on the cheek and a careful hug so he wouldn't wake his mother or hurt his father's still injured arm, before turning to his brother and giving him hug also.

As Tony and Gibbs made their way to the car the younger man felt more light hearted than he had in over a month and as they got in the car he leaned over and pressed a kiss to Jethro's lips.

"What brought this on?" Gibbs asked as he licked his lips when Tony pulled back and the two men locked eyes.

"I just wanted to thank you for being there for me during all of this." The younger man said as he leaned in to kiss his lover again, this time using his tongue to part the older man's lips and deepening the kiss.

The two men pulled apart, both panting for air as they were breathless after the passionate kiss. They had both been holding back a lot what with first the bad reaction Tony's parents had to his sexual orientation, then the fight with Abby and now finally the car accident hanging over their heads. But now for the first time both men felt there was nothing bad casting a shadow over their relationship and Tony intended they make the most of it.

"Let's continue this somewhere a little more comfortable," He said with a seductive grin as he put on his seat belt. "After all we have the mansion all to ourselves today." He couldn't help but laugh with happiness when Gibbs tore out of the parking spot and turned the car so they were heading the straightest way to the mansion.

**The End...**

_**A/N: Okay so that was the last chapter of this fic *snif*, however since I know a few people who are waiting for it, there will be an epilogue that will include.. well some smut, so a pretty graphic slash scene coming up in the epilogue *g*. For those of you who don't like that kind of thing, I'd suggest you shouldn't read it once it's up as there really won't be anything other than the sex... **_

_**A HUGE thank you to everyone who stuck with this fic and reviewed or put this on alert or in their favorites and a special thank you to my wonderful beta Finlaure who is a very dear friend as well as a valued beta. **_


	17. epilogue

_**A/N: Okay so here is the epilogue with the sex. If you do not wish to read graphic male/male action, then you might wanna skip this chap, you won't miss anything by not reading this (well except the sex of course XD) And you may view chapter 16 as the last one and ignore this. Thank you to Finlaure for her beta reading, any and all remaining mistakes are indeed mine and I take full responsibility for them. **_

_**I hope you all enjoy! **_

It didn't take long for the two men to make their way to the mansion, not with Gibbs behind the wheel and being spurred into driving as fast as he safely could, by the images he had of what would happen once they reached their destination.

There had been a sense of urgency and a lot of tension during the drive, but as soon they stepped into the big DiNozzo mansion, all of that seemed to disappear leaving both men feeling the desire they both shared for one another, but the time didn't matter anymore and there was no reason to rush. The house was empty and there was no one coming around for a very long while. As soon as the door closed behind the men, Tony found himself being pushed back against the wooden surface and a kiss was pressed to his laughing lips.

The kiss lasted for only a short time, in its sweetness it was a promise of more things to come and Gibbs smiled as he pulled back to see his lover's closed eyes and the slight flush on his skin.

Jethro pressed another light kiss on his lips before pulling back and taking a hold of Tony's hand.

"C'mon, I need a shower and then I have some plans for you," The younger man smiled and moved to lead the older man up the stairs into his room and through the bedroom into the en-suite bathroom.

The process of getting out of their clothes proved to be slow going since it had been a long time since they'd had alone time like this. They hadn't really ever had this kind of peace before during their relationship, so both men took their time, both in turn divesting the other from all his clothes and using hands and lips to map out every piece of the newly exposed skin.

Finally once both Tony and Jethro were as nude as the day they were born, they stepped into the shower and as the younger man reached to turn the shower on. Gibbs took the opportunity to reach for the liquid soap on the shelf and once the water was flowing over them, he used his soapy hands to start massaging the muscles in front of him.

Tony jumped slightly as he felt the hands touching his shoulders, but he quickly relaxed as those talented fingers teased away every knot that had taken residence in his back and shoulders. Tony's head fell forward as he enjoyed the feel of the hands kneading his muscles as well as washing him. He couldn't help but moan in disappointment when the hands pulled away, but when a hand pulled his head back and he felt something being squirted on his head he sighed and when the fingers started working the shampoo into his hair, he moaned at the sensation.

After washing and rinsing Tony's hair, Gibbs smirked as he took the soap and again soaped up his hands and this time wrapped his arms around the man before him and ran the soapy hands up and down the slightly hairy chest before focusing on the small little numbs on the younger man's chest. He smirked wickedly at the moans he wrenched from his lover by playing with his nipples before deciding to move on. He let one of his hands wander down over the younger man's side and over the taunt belly, bypassing his lover's hard erection in favor of taking his hairy sacks in his hand and rolling them with his fingers.

Tony threw his head back to land on Gibbs shoulder and he panted when the older man placed a kiss to his neck and moved his hand and took him in the calloused hand and with slow and deliberate strokes brought the younger man closer to the edge.

Jethro knew his lover was close so he sped up his strokes, enjoying the sounds coming from the other man and the way he trembled in his arms. He kept up the pace he'd set but lifted his other hand to turn Tony's head to the side so he could press his lips to the vulnerable neck now so enticingly in his reach. He bit down on the soft flesh and kept up the sucking and biting even when he felt the man in his arms reach his orgasm and heard the yell before warm wetness covered his hand. He finished leaving a mark on the skin he had been worrying and spun the man in his arms around so he could crush their lips together in a bruising kiss.

Gibbs smiled as Tony settled his head on his shoulder after the kiss, but it soon turned into a gasp as he felt fingers closing on his own straining member.

"Look what I found here, is this all for me?" the younger man asked playfully as he pulled back to look into his partner's face.

"Oh it's for you alright, what're you going to do with it?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Gibbs saw the smirk on Tony's face and before he could prepare himself the younger man dropped to his knees and smiled wickedly up at the older man.

"Oh I just might have a little taste 's all," he stroked the hard shaft in front of him and licked his lips before leaning forwards and using one hand to guide the head of the shaft into his mouth.

Gibbs groaned as he felt the lips close around the head of his erection and he let his head fall back while his hands found their way into Tony's hair where they started to pet the wet strands of their own accord. He knew not to grab the now bobbing head and push into the wet heat as that would only serve to make Tony's gag reflex go off. The younger man made up for it as he used his tongue to caress the slit that pumped pre-come into his mouth, and used one hand to caress the hairy balls as the other had a hold of the base of Gibbs' shaft.

It didn't take long for Gibbs to feel his orgasm nearing and when Tony started sucking for real he knew he wouldn't last long.

"Tony, I'm going to-" He panted, giving the younger man a chance to pull back if he so chose. The Italian just kept going and when Gibbs went over the edge with a deep groan, Tony swallowed most of the bitter come, some leaking out from the corner of his mouth, but he just wiped it off before standing up and sharing another kiss with his partner.

The kiss was interrupted by Tony yawning and he pulled back and grinned sheepishly as Gibbs just smirked at him. It was still early, but after the stress of the past weeks the young Italian felt exhausted.

"I think someone needs a nap," Jethro said with a grin as he kissed the other man's cheek as another yawn threatened to pop Tony's jaw.

"Yeah," Tony agreed as they rinsed off. Gibbs shut off the water before reaching to get towels for the both of them.

After drying off, the two men went into the bedroom, not bothering to put on any clothes, but Tony went and locked the door to the room just to be on the safe side. The NCIS agents climbed into bed and Gibbs pulled the covers over them as they settled in, the younger man resting his head on Jethro's shoulder, their arms wrapped around each other.

It didn't take long for both men to fall asleep. For the next two hours the only sounds in the room were the ticking of the clock on the wall, and the deep breathing of the men who didn't move from their position on the bed where they were wrapped up around each other.

After sleeping for a few hours, Tony woke up with a smile on his face. He rubbed his face sleepily on the shoulder his head had been resting on, before he settled back down and tried to snuggle closer to his lover.

He moved the arm he had draped over Gibbs' waist and he moved the hand so he could run his fingers over the slightly furry chest that was rising and falling with the deep breaths of his lover.

A plan formed in the Italian's mind as he let one of his fingers flick one of Jethro's nipples causing him to gasp softly in his sleep. He moved carefully as not to disturb his lover enough to rouse him from his sleep, and moved to straddle Gibbs' hips, not really resting his weight on the man lying under him.

Tony leaned down to press his lips into the other man's neck and from there he started a trail of small kisses that led him to Gibbs' jaw and then down to his chest where he concentrated on the two nubs that were just begging for his attention.

He lapped at the small nubs and one at a time took them in his mouth and gently nipped them with his teeth. As he used his teeth to pull on the right nipple, Gibbs woke up with a moan and Tony felt two hands settling on his hips.

"Much better than an alarm clock." Jethro murmured as he moved his hands from the slim hips to caress the smooth skin of his lover's back.

"Less noisy too," Tony murmured while concentrated on the chest in front of him and running his tongue over one pert nipple. He let out a loud yelp when Jethro rolled them over so that Tony was lying on his back with his lover kneeling between his legs.

"Well don't know about that-" Gibbs said with a smirk as Tony threw him a dirty look that melted into a smile as the former Marine leaned down to press his lips against his lover's.

"I can so be quiet." Tony protested as they broke the kiss. He threw his head back against the pillows when warm lips made a searing path from his jaw to his ear.

"Prove it." Gibbs challenged in a quiet voice directly into Tony's ear.

The younger man shivered and as Jethro pulled back, Tony mimicked zipping his lips and locking them before throwing away the key.

"Oh is that so? Well let's see how long you can keep that up." The devilish look in the blue eyes caused Tony's eyes to widen as he thought about what he had just gotten himself into.

And then he couldn't think of anything but Jethro's lips and hands as they seemed to be everywhere at once.

Tony arched his back as hands pinched and caressed his nipples and lips fastened on his throat to suck and mark the tender flesh there. He sucked in a huge breath and he gasped soundlessly as teeth nipped the skin on his throat and one hand lowered from his chest to wander down his body and to caress his inner thighs.

"Was that a sound?" Gibbs whispered in his ear but upon receiving only a shake of Tony's head as an answer he shrugged and went back to what he was doing.

It had become a mission for Jethro to make his lover lose control so he'd let the sounds escape him that he was trying desperately to keep back. Seeing that he needed to up the stakes he let his mouth wander down the muscular body until he placed a kiss to his lover's navel before taking the head of his erection into his mouth.

Tony's body arched as Jethro swirled his tongue over the head of the head of his hard shaft and he had to bit his lips in order to keep back the yell that wanted to escape as his erection was worked by a master and a hand slipped to his crack, running a finger teasingly over the opening to his body.

He almost jumped off the bed when a dry finger wiggled its way into his hole and just rested there for a second before pulling back and then it was back, but this time it slid in more easily as it was slicked with something.

Tony opened the eyes he hadn't realized he had closed and looked at his lover in confusion as to where he had gotten the lube. Not seeing the tube anywhere, it took a second for comprehension to dawn but when it did, Tony's eyes closed again as he tried to hold back the moan that threatened to escape at the fact that Gibbs was stretching him using his pre-come as lube.

Jethro slipped another finger into his lover's body as he took his time stretching the small opening with nothing but the clear fluid seeping from the head of his cock to slick the digits. He let go of the cock in his mouth and smirked as he saw Tony biting his fist to keep from moaning at the loss. He pushed his fingers a bit and crooked them to find that one spot that was guaranteed to make the younger man scream. He was proven wrong when the Italian just arched his back and bit down on his lower lip hard enough to make the skin break and a drop of blood trickle down his chin.

Gibbs reached over the side of the bed for the night stand and retrieved the lube he knew Tony would have there and he quickly slicked his erection. It was difficult with one hand since he still had two fingers buried in his lover's ass, but he managed it. He pulled his fingers free and he used both hands to push Tony's thighs apart as he dove down to kiss the younger man.

Jethro used his tongue to wipe away any trace of blood from the younger man's lips and he gently worried the small nick on his lower lip.

"I'm gonna make you scream, so don't hurt yourself trying to hold back." With that Gibbs positioned himself and in one smooth thrust filled his lover's ass, enjoying the way the tight muscles gripped his hard shaft.

Jethro waited for a minute for his lover to adjust to having his body breached so suddenly before pulling out and slamming back in, feeling muscular legs circling his waist as he got into a hard and fast rhythm.

Tony could do nothing but hold on as Gibbs drove into him over and over again. He fisted the bed sheets and threw his head from side to side as he struggled to control both his body and the sounds that tried to escape his mouth as he was being brought closer and closer to the edge.

Jethro saw his lover getting closer and closer to coming so he changed the angle of his thrusts so that the head of his cock rubbed over the small spot inside his lover that sent fireworks through the younger man's body. At the same time he took a hold of his lover's erection with one hand and pulled on the hard shaft until he could feel Tony's muscles start to clench around him and his whole body trembled with the intensity of the moment. Then with one more thrust of his hips, Gibbs sent Tony over the edge and this time the younger man couldn't control the scream of release that ripped from his throat.

It took only a half a dozen more thrusts from Gibbs into his lover's pliant body before he yelled his own release, trying to muffle the sound into Tony's chest where he buried his face.

Both men were panting and Tony let his legs fall to the bed as Gibbs dropped to lay half on top of the younger man.

After a while of just basking in the afterglow, Jethro turned his head to look at the other man and he moved so that his body was completely covering the Italian's and he smirked down at his lover.

"I'm impressed but I knew I'd make you scream." There was such satisfaction in the older man's grin that Tony couldn't help but inch up to taste the other man's victory.

As Gibbs pulled back Tony smiled up at him. "Never said I'd stay quiet all the way, just proved that I can do it."

Tony laughed as Jethro shut him up with another kiss before pulling back and rolling on his back, bringing Tony with him so that they were much in the same position they had been for their nap.

"Shouldn't we get up?" Tony asked but in contrast to his words he snuggled closer to the warm body next to him and sighed in contentment.

"Yeah," Gibbs said as he started running a hand through Tony's mussed hair. "Just wanna lie here for a minute before we get cleaned up and head back to the hospital."

"Good plan boss." Tony closed his eyes for a moment so he could just savor the feel of the hand petting his head and the warmth of the man beside him.

Just laying there next to each other with knowing that everything would be okay. It was the best feeling Tony had ever experienced so he just let his eyes stay closed and listened to the heart beat under his ear and felt more content than he could remember ever being.

It was a good feeling.

**The End. **

_**A/N 2: So that was the end of this fic, but there will be another fic in this verse at some point, not sure yet when I get the chance to start writing it, but If there's anything you'd like to see in it, let me know and I'll see what I can do ;) And reviews are as always greatly appreciated! :D**_


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